Old Quarrels, New Love
by Rhianwen
Summary: [Chapter 12 uploaded! Complete! At last! Edited to remove a pointless breaking of the fourth wall. ^_^] Trapped in a place where the strengths of both are rendered useless, Magus and Lucca must put aside differences and rely on one another for survival.
1. Chapter 1

Old Quarrels, New Love, and an Impromptu Camping Trip Gone Horribly Wrong  
  
  
  
Summary: Separated from the rest of the team and trapped in a place where the strengths of both are rendered useless, Magus and Lucca must put aside differences and rely on one another for survival.  
  
Lucca: [Sigh] We're doomed.  
  
Magus: Oh, shut up!  
  
Rhianwen: Oy...  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them, and they don't like me, folks! Everyone appearing in this story, aside from Cedry Kaughnee thus far, is owned by Squaresoft (as far as I know.). They're being used here without permission, but that's okay, 'cause I'm not getting any money for this. [Grumble]  
  
  
  
And now, oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon with the show!  
  
  
  
Chapter 1: We are NOT Sleeping Together! a.k.a. This is Gonna Be a LONG Trip...  
  
  
  
The evening was a lovely one, mild of weather, cloudless, nearly bright as day with the glow of the full moon; just the sort that should see friends celebrating life, health, and fellowship beneath a sky full of stars shining down upon them in the same spirit of camaraderie; the sort that should see two young lovers, not a thought in the world to spare for aught but one another, walking arm-in-arm beneath a moon smiling fondly down upon love newly discovered; the sort that should see children sleeping peacefully, their dreams made pleasant and beautiful by the scent of pine and flowers and damp grasses swept in through their windows on a cool night breeze. Altogether, an evening to be enjoyed.  
  
And, to be sure, elsewhere in the world, this may have been the case. To the group of four weary travellers gathered around a table in the generic, non-descript dining room of a generic, non-descript inn, however, the evening was anything but pleasant, crowning a day that had fallen substantially short of being good enough to even be called 'trying.' After one has been travelling for hours, after all, to reach a town said to carry the necessary supplies for the repairs to be made, known only by rumour to be 'somewhere to the south,' forced by necessity into such an action by 'auto trouble,' it can be difficult to see the beauty in one's surroundings.  
  
  
  
"So, are we staying here tonight, or what?" Marle demanded, rubbing her eyes wearily with a slender white hand. Crono raised his chin from his hands and blinked.  
  
"Uh...what?"  
  
"Are we staying here tonight?" the princess repeated.  
  
"It's been two hours since sunset, and we haven't an idea in hell how to get to this damned town at the in broad daylight. We're all exhausted, and little four-eyes there is likely to collapse if we try to set out again," Magus broke in with a snort.  
  
"Wha...? Am not," Lucca murmured, annoyed, lifting her head upon hearing herself, or at least the wizard's less-than-fond pet name for her, mentioned.  
  
"Yes, we can see that," he agreed ironically as a 'thump' echoed through the room, caused directly by that same purple-haired inventor slumping forward to the surface of the table again, her forehead coming into contact rather heavily with the sturdy wood. Crono and Marle winced in sympathy. Shaking his head, Magus continued. "In addition, were we to continue on tonight, we would likely find this town, if it exists to be found at all, in the middle of the night, at a point when it would be too late to either see who we need to about the proper materials for the Epoch, or to even find lodgings."  
  
Marle blinked.  
  
"Uh...yeah. So, are we staying here tonight or not?"  
  
Disdaining to reply beyond a roll of his eyes, Magus smothered a smile at the groan of pain and disgust emitted by the girl flopped forward on the table.  
  
"Yeah, Marle, we're staying here tonight," Crono told the lovely blonde with a small smile, wrapping an arm around her.  
  
Despite her current position, staring directly down at the table, this small exchange did not escape Lucca's notice, and she rolled her eyes at the display of affection, noting idly as she did so that the sensation of eyelashes brushing against wood was a strange one. Then she stopped abruptly, sat up, and shook her head sadly at the utter nonsense of this observation, reflecting that if her brain didn't get a break from all this 'staying awake' crap, she was going to go nuts.  
  
"Okay, guys, I'm gonna go get some sleep. G'night."  
  
Thus saying, she pushed her chair back against the wall, grabbed her travel bag, and started toward the desk.  
  
"Yeah, see yuh, Lucca," Marle called cheerfully after her.  
  
"We're leaving at sunrise, with or without you, four-eyes, so make sure you're awake and outside," Magus added amiably. Or not. At all. In fact, what's the exact literal opposite of amiably?  
  
"Hey, who decided that?" Crono protested, shooting his friend a sympathetic smile as the older man's words made her retreat faster, a sound distinctly resembling 'hmph!' escaping her and drifting back toward them.  
  
Magus's eyes narrowed, and his jaw set determinedly. This, he would not let go. He put up with enough from these irresponsible children and their rag- tag group as it was.  
  
"We are not out here on a vacation. We left the Epoch for the sole purpose of finding supplies, and we are trying to get back as quickly as possible."  
  
The redheaded young man shrugged.  
  
"Yeah, I guess you've got a point. I still don't think we have to push everyone that hard."  
  
"Yeah!" Marle agreed. "I don't wanna get up at sunrise!"  
  
"To be honest, neither do I. But he's right; we've got to get back there as soon as possible. I don't want to think about what might happen if we leave the others alone too long, and Ayla gets too hungry. We might never see Frog again!"  
  
Marle giggled and punched Crono playfully on the shoulder.  
  
"Oh, knock it off!"  
  
"Make me."  
  
"You got it!"  
  
With that, she leaned over and kissed him soundly, winding one arm around his neck and sliding the other into his shock of red hair. After a stunned moment, Crono's eyes returned from comically huge to normal size, and he recovered his motor skills sufficiently to return the kiss enthusiastically, before breaking it with the greatest of reluctance. But not soon enough.  
  
With a disgusted sigh, deciding that he had had more than enough of the antics of these two, Magus pushed his chair back, tossed a number of coins onto the table to cover the food and ale he'd consumed, and strode away.  
  
"So, we'll all meet tomorrow morning out front?" Crono called after him, smothering a grin.  
  
Magus turned and nodded his assent, then started up the stairs, muttering as he went that this little side-trip would doubtless seem endless.  
  
  
  
"Man, there's a guy who really needs a little fun in his life," Marle observed, shaking her head. When Crono didn't answer, she glanced sharply at him. He was staring intently at something on the other side of the warm room bathed in the golden light of a small fireplace along the front wall. Rolling her eyes, Marle waved a hand before his eyes. He blinked, then leaned in closer.  
  
"Hey, how long do you think that guy over there's been watching us?" he muttered to her. She glanced in the approximate direction he had been looking, and frowned. The man he spoke of was fairly young, late twenties to mid-thirties at the oldest, with a mass of deep brown hair springing back from his brow, and was clothed in the conventional garb of a farmer. All in all, the sort of man that commonly graced such places as this for a drink with a few friends to unwind after a long day. What was odd about this man, the young blonde noted instantly, was that he was alone, and that, as Crono had indicated, he was indeed watching them closely. Upon catching Marle's gaze, he winked and shot her a friendly smile before rising from his seat and starting toward their table.  
  
"You might have to kick his butt if he tries to hit on me," the princess noted with a soft chuckle. Crono, finding the comment less humorous than she had intended, greeted the man a little more coldly than politeness would have strictly called for. Nothing daunted, the stranger pulled out a chair next to Crono's and settled comfortably into it.  
  
"Evening, friends," he greeted the young couple, leaning forward. "The name's Cedry Kaughnee. Say, I overheard you mentioning something about auto difficulties. That is, if I was correct in assuming that this 'Epoch' of yours is a vehicle."  
  
"Yeah, it is. And yeah, it broke down. That's kind of why we're here. We have to go pick up stuff to fix it," Marle confirmed cheerfully, completely unaware of the warning glances Crono was sending her way, requesting that she not be so quick to tell this stranger of their predicament. Cedry nodded.  
  
"Ah. You're heading to Caermal, then."  
  
"Actually," Marle laughed, once again completely unaware of Crono's despairing sigh, "we aren't quite sure where we're going. We just heard from someone who happened past that there was supposed to be a pretty big town-"  
  
"Yeah, we're headed to Caermal," Crono cut in, smiling tightly at Mr. Kaughnee and giving Marle's hand a warning squeeze. Mr. Kaughnee's eyebrow lifted slightly.  
  
"You don't know where you're going? That isn't a very safe way to travel," he noted, shaking his head.  
  
"We can handle it, believe me," Crono assured him dryly.  
  
"Still, you'll get yourselves lost if you don't know where you're going. If you'd like," he continued with a non-committal shrug, "I could take you to the town. Could even show you where to get the stuff you need for cheaper. Heck, I'll help you fix the thing, too, if you need an extra set of hands. I've been known to tinker with a few gadgets before."  
  
"Would you?! Gee, thanks!" Marle chirped. This last offence was too much for Crono. He held up a finger to Cedry.  
  
"Can you excuse us for a second?"  
  
Cedry nodded. Crono smiled slightly.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Then, seizing Marle by the elbow, he stood, pulled her to her feet, and dragged her away from the table.  
  
"Are you crazy?!" he hissed at her. Her eyes widened, hurt.  
  
"Crono, what's wrong?"  
  
"You just agreed to pay a complete stranger to guide us to a town that, to be honest, we have no proof that he knows any better than we do. And you agreed to let him 'find us a deal,' AND you agreed to take him back to Epoch!"  
  
"So...what's wrong with that?"  
  
"We don't know this guy! Who knows if his motives are good?"  
  
"Well...we can watch him, right? I don't know - we don't know where we're going on our own, or where to go to buy stuff when we get to the town; and he said he's good with mechanics, right? I just thought it might be nice for Lucca to have a little help fixing Epoch. She seems really tired..."  
  
Crono felt his anger drain away as his gaze met her puzzled, concerned green eyes. He sighed and rubbed her shoulder with a smile.  
  
"I know you were only trying to help, Marle. It's just that we don't know if we can rely on this guy to not take off with our stuff in the middle of the night."  
  
"Oh, c'mon, Crono, what could it hurt to trust someone?"  
  
"Hey, hey, I trust plenty of people! I'm just beginning to catch on that maybe that's not the best way to be. But, you're right. We can keep an eye on him if we have to. Now, let's get back there before he takes off with our coin-purse."  
  
"Crono!"  
  
"I know, I know," the young man grumbled as they sauntered back to the table and took their seats again.  
  
"Alright, Cedry, you're in," Marle announced. The man beamed back, quite satisfied.  
  
"Splendid! Now all that remains is to discuss the little matter of my payment."  
  
"Here we go," Crono murmured. Marle dug her elbow into his side.  
  
"Erm, payment?"  
  
"Payment for what?" a voice inquired lightly from behind Crono. All three turned.  
  
"Oh, hey, Magus," Crono greeted. "What's up?"  
  
"Thought you'd like to know," the wizard began, pulling out a chair next to Cedry and seating himself, "the inn's somewhat short of rooms at the moment."  
  
He tossed a key to Crono.  
  
"We're in Room 9."  
  
He turned and slid another key across the table to Marle.  
  
"You and Lucca are in 17. And now," he continued, fixing Cedry with a piercing gaze, "what's this about this man's payment?"  
  
"Oh." Crono cringed inwardly. If there was one person who would take the idea of bringing this stranger along worse that he was, it would be Magus. And possibly Lucca. Maybe Frog, too. Come to think of it, Ayla wasn't particularly fond of strangers, either.  
  
"This is Cedry Kaughnee."  
  
"A pleasure," Cedry smiled, holding out a hand to the blue-haired man.  
  
"I'm sure," Magus replied dryly, not returning the gesture.  
  
"Er...anyway, he's going to take us to that town we're looking for," Crono continued, scratching his head uneasily.  
  
"Caermal," Cedry interjected. Magus glanced briefly at him before returning his attention to Crono.  
  
"Oh. And we're paying him for this?"  
  
"Uh, yeah. For that, and for...uh...helpingusfixEpoch," Crono hurried on. One blue eyebrow lifted.  
  
"For...what?"  
  
"He's gonna come back with us and help Lucca figure out what's wrong with Epoch," Marle broke in cheerfully.  
  
"I'm counted something of a mechanical whiz-kid 'round these parts," Cedry informed Magus with a wink. The blue eyebrow, which had just lowered itself to normal position, lifted again.  
  
"I see. So, how much are we paying him?"  
  
"I don't know...Crono, what sounds fair to you?" Marle asked. Crono shrugged.  
  
"How about fifty?"  
  
"Fifty?" Cedry repeated, wrinkling his nose. "I've got to take time off from my farm to come with you. That's a lot of trouble, a lot of money's worth of lost work. A hundred, at the least."  
  
"Seventy-five," Crono bargained.  
  
"Ninety-five, at the very, very least," Cedry told them, the grin fading from his face for the first time.  
  
"Eighty," Crono replied, crossing his arms and leaning back.  
  
"Not a chance! Ninety," the farmer relented slightly.  
  
"Seventy-five," Magus suggested with a smirk.  
  
"Oh, fine," Cedry huffed. "Eighty. But I'm diggin' my own grave, you understand."  
  
"Seventy-five," Magus repeated.  
  
"What?!" Cedry expostulated, leaning forward and balling up his fist. "You're off your head!"  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Crono broke in, holding up an arm in front of Cedry in effort to head off an impending fight. "Eighty sounds good. Is that alright with everyone?"  
  
Cedry shrugged sullenly. Magus rolled his eyes boredly and nodded. Marle looked on, confused.  
  
"Alright. Eighty it is."  
  
"In advance," Cedry broke in, holding out his hand. With a sigh, Crono dug into his coin pouch and fished out the necessary amount, dropping it into the farmer's hand before continuing.  
  
"And we'll all meet outside half-an-hour after sunrise. Marle, if Lucca's still awake, pass that on, okay?"  
  
"Okay," the young woman chirped.  
  
"Sure, she's all energetic and smiling now," Cedry muttered gloomily to Magus, his tone darkly foreboding, "but let's see how happy she is tomorrow morning when she's being dragged out of bed at sunrise."  
  
"She'll be worse," Magus replied with a heavy sigh. "She's said often that mornings are her best time."  
  
"Oh, gods," Cedry groaned. Not bothering to answer, Magus looked up to address the rest of the table.  
  
"If that's all, then I think I'll go to bed." He glared at Crono. "And don't wake me up by thumping all over the place when you decide to stagger in two hours before dawn."  
  
With that, he stood, and, his cape whipping about him, turned to leave. Cedry watched him go uneasily.  
  
"You got yourselves some strange friends. He looks as though he might enjoy biting a nail in two. What of this Lucca? He some sort of reclusive cannibal?"  
  
"She, and no, not exactly," Crono replied with a weary smile. "She's my best friend, and just a little shy."  
  
Cedry nodded.  
  
"Gotcha. Well, that'll make it easier, if only one of your team's insane."  
  
"I'd hardly say that," Marle giggled. "We're all pretty insane when we want to be."  
  
With a laugh, Cedry shook his head.  
  
"Oh, I'm sure we'll all get along famously. Anyway, I think your friend had the right idea. I think I'll head up to sleep now. After all, we want to be well-rested for our early morning tomorrow, right?"  
  
Chuckling to himself in a manner that made Crono somewhat uneasy, Cedry climbed from his seat and started to the desk.  
  
"So, you don't live around here, then?" Marle called after him, confused.  
  
"Er, what?" he called back.  
  
"I don't know...I just thought you said you lived around here. You said you were known around these parts as a mechanical whiz-kid, so I thought you lived around here," she replied sheepishly. "Never mind."  
  
"Oh, yeah, I live just an hour's walk from here. I simply thought it'd be easier for all of us if I spent the night here. Then we're all in the same place to leave early tomorrow."  
  
"Oh! Yeah, that's pretty smart, isn't it, Crono?" Marle glanced at the young man. "Crono?"  
  
He set down his mug of ale.  
  
"Wha...? Oh! Sorry, what?"  
  
"Never mind," Marle replied with a grin, ruffling his hair fondly. "Maybe you should go to sleep, too."  
  
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Good night, Mr. Kaughnee. G'night, Marle."  
  
Giving the lovely blonde a quick kiss on the cheek, he headed upstairs.  
  
"So, shouldn't you be heading off to bed, too, my dear?" Cedry suggested. "After all, we don't want you to be miserable tomorrow."  
  
"Oh, I'll be fine," Marle assured him, reaching for the remainder of Crono's mug of ale and draining it before continuing. "I don't need a lot of sleep."  
  
"Uh...right. Well, good night, then."  
  
"Good night," she called after him as he headed to the desk, clutching his money tightly. "What a nice man..."  
  
  
  
"Bloody cheapskates," that same nice man muttered to himself as he crept stealthily down the stairs of the silent, darkened inn. "This'll teach them to gyp me out of what I deserve!'  
  
Ignoring the fact that this had been his plan all along, whether receiving 100 gil or 10, he continued, and then winced as his foot hit a creaky place on the floor. If those weird kids and their angry friend with the pointy ears caught him like this, fully dressed, his travel pack in tow, and leaving the inn in the middle of the night, he was almost certain there'd be trouble. True enough, that blonde girl hadn't seemed particularly bright, but it was this that might cause him even more trouble. She might insist upon waking everyone up to accompany him, because 'it wasn't safe to walk alone in the middle of the night.'  
  
Rolling his eyes, Cedry slunk through the deserted dining room to the front door of the establishment. He pushed the heavy wooden door open slowly and heaved a sigh of relief as he stepped out into the chill, fragrant night air. This relief lived a very short life, if a happy one. It was ruthlessly murdered a moment later by a deep, decidedly male voice inquiring, amused,  
  
"Going somewhere, Mr. Kaughnee?"  
  
'Oh shit, shit, shit,' he silently intoned, his mouth growing dry and his palms growing cold and clammy as he slowly turned to face the source of the question.  
  
Magus smirked back, arms crossed, leaning casually against the side of the building. Pushing off and starting toward Cedry, he paused for a moment with an annoyed sigh to brush the flakes of grey paint that had left the wall of the inn to take up residence on his sleeve. Then he turned back to the quaking Cedry.  
  
"Wh-what are you doing out so late?" Cedry demanded weakly in one pathetic attempt to shift suspicion from himself to this man.  
  
"One might ask you the same question," Magus observed. "However, I'm sure hurling accusations back and forth won't solve anything, so I'll answer you."  
  
He strode forward, and, before the startled farmer could react, seized him by the collar and shoved him against the side of the building with a good, sound thump.  
  
"I knew you were going to try this, so I thought I'd save us all some time and bother searching for you, and just wait down here. Head you off, so to speak. Crono thought I was being unnecessarily paranoid, but it seems as though I was right to be."  
  
Cedry laughed weakly, spots dancing before his eyes as the grip of this man's hands on his collar slowly choked of his air supply.  
  
"Now," Magus continued in a growl, "how about giving us back our money?"  
  
"W-will you let me go if I do?"  
  
"I'll let you live, if that's what you mean. And I'll let you go back inside and back to sleep. After all, we've got a full day of travelling tomorrow, and you'll need your sleep. After all," he smirked, "we can't have you falling behind."  
  
"Falling...? You're making me come with you?!"  
  
"Yes, I am," the wizard confirmed lazily, releasing his grip just the slightest bit.  
  
"You'll give me my money back when we're done?"  
  
"I didn't say that."  
  
"So, now you expect me to help you for free?!"  
  
"It would seem so. Is that a problem?"  
  
Cedry choked for air as the grip tightened again.  
  
"No problem," he wheezed, reaching for his coin pouch to retrieve the money. After all, no amount of coin was worth his life.  
  
  
  
Lucca sighed and kicked a small rock that had the misfortune to be lying next to the toe of her boot.  
  
"Damn insomnia," she reflected sadly, watching the pebble bounce down the moonlit dirt road. "I know I'm gonna be a zombie tomorrow, but what's the point of lying in bed, listening to Marle ramble in her sleep, if I'm gonna be awake all night anyway?"  
  
Continuing down the path, she crossed her arms and growled slightly at the thought of Marle's rambling.  
  
'I'd have slept the whole night through, too, if she hadn't felt the pressing need to wake me up to tell me that we're leaving at sunrise. Ah, well. Maybe I'll go explore the town. There's only so long cows and fields can be more entertaining than Marle.'  
  
She turned to the right where the road diverted into two, one leading into town, one leading east over the rolling hills and pastures.  
  
'It could have been worse, though. Crono and Marle could have decided that they needed more 'alone time' and stuck me with Magus.'  
  
She shuddered at the mere thought. He'd been putting especial fervour into his normal moody, antisocial attitude since they'd left the camp.  
  
'Stuck-up jerk,' she thought darkly. 'Like any of the rest of us are thrilled with the fact that we've gotta be traipsing across some place none of us have ever seen in some weird time when we've got more important things to be doing. Someone should put it to him in words that he'll understand that he's not the only one with problems.'  
  
Just as Lucca had begun to form an appealing image of being the one to do so, a frightened exclamation drifted toward her ears.  
  
"Okay, okay, I'll give you the money! Just let me down! I can't breathe!"  
  
Whipping around to peer in the direction of the cry, she adjusted her glasses - and took off toward the shabby grey building at a dead run as she recognized the tormentor of the strange man. She cleared the low fence in a leap and caught the wizard by the back of his cape.  
  
"Magus!" she shouted, yanking at his shoulders to try to drag him away from the frightened young man. "What are you doing?!"  
  
"Dammit, four-eyes, get the hell back! There's a reason for this," he growled back at her, not turning from his captive.  
  
"Good to know. Because it looked to me like you were just mugging some random guy for the hell of it."  
  
"Of course not!"  
  
"Great. So, you mind telling me what this reason of yours is?"  
  
"If you must know," he ground out, setting the man on the ground, but not letting go of the front of his shirt, "Crono agreed to pay this man a sum of money to show us where the town is, and then to come back with us and help you repair that damn machine. He tried to leave with our money without fulfilling his end of the bargain. I was..." He paused, his eyes glinting wickedly in the moonlight, the soft light gleaming off of his fangs as he smirked. "...suggesting that he think twice about it."  
  
"Ah. So, why did Crono agree to let him come, in the first place?" Lucca wondered aloud, glaring at the terrified farmer. "We could find the town just as easily alone, and I certainly don't need help with the repairs."  
  
"One wouldn't think you could handle the repair alone, with all the whining you've been doing about how tired you are."  
  
"I have not been whining!" she shot back, temper flaring up in an instant. He quirked a humorous eyebrow.  
  
"Then what exactly is it that I remember?"  
  
"I'm surprised you could remember anything any of us has said, with your head having been up your ass pretty much since you've joined us."  
  
"What was that?" he growled, releasing his grip on the startled Cedry and whirling about.  
  
"I think you heard me," she replied, fighting back a wave of fear at the knowledge that she had just turned his anger her way, and that there would be essentially no one to stop him from doing what he wanted to her. The brown-haired man huddled on the ground certainly would be no help. But, admit to him that he had fulfilled his aim? Never! "Unless you had your head up your ass just now, too," she finished sweetly.  
  
"Shut up, you little brat!" he barked, advancing on her.  
  
"Or you'll what?" she challenged, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one foot with an unconcerned air.  
  
"Do you want to find out, bookworm?"  
  
"Well," she began slowly, putting a hand to her chin in deep consideration, "I am a little curious. I mean, if you tried to use any magic, the flash would attract the attention of all the nice people asleep inside, and if they came out, they would see a big, scary man picking on a defenceless little lady."  
  
"You're not exactly what I would call a lady. Or particularly defenceless," he replied with a smirk, loathe as he was to admit the last bit.  
  
"Oh, I agree, but I can come across as VERY defenceless when I want to. And as for a more physical approach, well, you don't seem to have your little toy with you," she commented sadly, referring, as both knew, to his notably absent scythe.  
  
"No, luckily for you, I left it up in my room," he admitted, drawing closer.  
  
"And really, what else could you do?"  
  
"What, indeed?"  
  
By now, he was barely a foot away, looming rather ominously a good foot above her. She stepped back and turned away.  
  
"Pretty much nothing, as far as I can tell. But, one more thing to remember: I can scream very, very loudly if I have to, and then we've got the problem of the denizens of the tavern seeing a big, scary man picking on a little girl."  
  
From where he was huddled against the wall of the inn, Cedry slowly uncurled and stood up. He had been watching this entire exchange with no small amount of fascination, quite oblivious to the voice in the back of his mind screaming frantically that this was a perfect opportunity to take to his heels while this caped freak's attention was elsewhere, and was now quite unable to hold back a comment.  
  
"What the heck is going on between you two, anyway? Are you, like, sleeping together, or trying not to, or what?"  
  
"WHAT?!" Lucca shrieked, furious, noting idly that the shriek had been echoed in an entirely different octave by the man behind her. She formed a spell in her mind, and a fireball began to collect in her hand, but she acted too late, as, by the time she was ready to release it, the man collapsed to the ground, quite well charred. She turned to stare incredulously at Magus, who stared back with a satisfied smirk.  
  
"This man's been trying my patience all night. I simply demonstrated to you that my speed is, indeed, superior."  
  
In two steps, he was directly in front of her, glaring down.  
  
"And now you see that I am not adverse to using magic and attracting attention if I have to. Make sure he's alive, and that he doesn't take to the road," he finished, gesturing carelessly to the blackened remains of Cedry Kaughnee before turning and stalking back into the inn.  
  
"...Oh, this is gonna be a long trip," Lucca groaned to herself as she knelt next to the injured man and shook his shoulder gently.  
  
"You're telling me," he croaked, one eye opening slightly, before collapsing back against the ground.  
  
  
  
  
  
Author's Notes: Whoooo, I think we're in for a long haul with this one, folks, considering that this was a pretty long chapter, and I haven't even gotten started on the plot alluded to in the summary. Not to worry, though; it's coming. And it'll definitely be Lucca/Magus 'shippery.  
  
[Sigh]  
  
I hate it when these pairings take over my brain...  
  
Lucca and Magus: Yeah, so do we!  
  
Rhianwen: Alright, cut it out, or I'll write you into another lemon!  
  
Magus: [Big grin]  
  
Lucca: [Bigger grin]  
  
Rhianwen: [Sigh] Cheap threats really don't work with these two... 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Roles are Established  
  
  
  
Note: Alright, if it hasn't become immediately obvious already, it will in this chapter, that Cedry Kaughnee, who shall reveal his real name, is little more than a plot device, and shall be *ahem* eliminated either this chapter or next. :o)  
  
  
  
"Aw, geez, where the heck are Magus and Cedry?" Crono huffed, leaning impatiently against the fencepost at the end of the path leading up to the inn. "After all the crap he gave Lucca about being on time, he really has no right to be late himself."  
  
Lucca, still smarting under this and other various comments made by the man the previous night, nodded emphatically.  
  
"Maybe he fell down the stairs or something," she added hopefully. Crono and Marle laughed softly.  
  
"Don't sound too worried, okay, Lucca?" Marle ordered with a wink. Crono shook his head.  
  
"No, I think there'd be more reason to worry about Cedry's safety than Magus's."  
  
"Especially if he tried to take off again," Lucca murmured, pulling off her helmet to brush her hair back.  
  
"What?" Crono asked with a frown.  
  
'Oops...'  
  
"Uh...never mind, Crono. It's nothing," the purple-haired girl hastened to assure him. As he gazed at her with one eyebrow raised, it seemed to her for a moment that he was going to pursue the issue, but the next second, a happy squeal from Marle broke into his thought, quite derailing it.  
  
"Crono! Lucca! Come look at the horses! Oh, they're so pretty! Quick! Come see!"  
  
The princess bounded over to her friends and seized each of them by the arm, dragging them a few yards down the road to a pasture where three large, sleepy-looking horses wandered idly about through the thick, lush green of the dew-wet grass.  
  
"Yeah," Lucca agreed, groaning inwardly. "They're great."  
  
Crono merely smiled fondly at Marle's flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes.  
  
"You're such a girl," he commented, shaking his head.  
  
"Well, yeah!" Marle agreed with a giggle.  
  
"Liking horses isn't necessarily a 'girl thing,'" Lucca reminded them somewhat pettishly, eyeing the horse nearest them - a large grey monster - warily. Certainly, he wouldn't bother with them unless provoked, and if the situation came down to it, he couldn't get over that fence, what with all that extra weight he was carrying. She hoped. Desperately.  
  
"Hey, of course not," Crono agreed, a dim voice somewhere in the back of his mind whispering to him the recollection that Lucca was deathly afraid of horses.  
  
"Oh, I wonder if they'll come over if I offer them some food!" Marle chirped, kneeling down to yank a handful of the long grasses growing next to the fence.  
  
"Maybe..."  
  
The nervousness in Lucca's tone was utterly lost on Marle as she hopped up onto the lowest rail of the fence and held out the grass to the horses, clucking and cooing softly. Ears twitching, a smallish, sleek, creamy-hued horse turned and ambled over. The blonde giggled in delight. Then she glanced back over her shoulder and beckoned to the other girl.  
  
"C'mon, Lucca! Grab a piece of grass and hold it out!"  
  
Gazing warily at the smaller mare, Lucca decided finally that she didn't look so very intimidating. She also knew that Marle probably wouldn't let up until they'd gone if she refused, and so she stooped to pull up a handful of grass, and carefully climbed up onto the bottom rail of the fence.  
  
"Here," Marle instructed. "Hold your hand out like this, with your fingers flat. Or else, you may find yourself missing a few," she finished with a giggle. Lucca was by far less amused.  
  
"Heh-heh-heh...uh, Marle, are you sure these things are safe?"  
  
Much to her dismay, the massive grey beastie had decided to join the little impromptu party by the fence, and was lumbering over...directly at her! She clung tightly to the top of the fence, the grass clutched tightly in one hand.  
  
"Oh, the grey one? Don't worry about him, Lucca! He's just a big teddy bear!"  
  
"Right," Lucca murmured. "A big, thousand-pound teddy bear that could bite off a person's fingers and cave in their skull with one of those hooves."  
  
"That's only if you fall in," Marle assured her. As long as you stay on this side of the fence, you're fine. Now, come on; it's easier to feed them if you sit like this."  
  
Lucca watched in fascination and vague terror as Marle swung one leg over the fence, and then the other, sitting perched on the top rail, close enough to climb up onto one of the horses.  
  
"I really think you should get down, Marle. Crono, tell her to get down!"  
  
"Hey, relax, Lucca. She's fine. She's just having some fun," the young man protested absently, glancing once again down the path to the inn to see if two familiar shapes had begun to approach yet. 'Damn it, where ARE they?'  
  
"It's all fun and games until someone gets their skull cracked in half," Lucca quoted gloomily. Meanwhile, Marle had somehow contrived to get the cream-coloured mare literally eating out of her hand. She giggled as the horse's rough tongue swept over her palm.  
  
"Hey, that tickles," she protested, stroking the mare's tawny mane with her other hand. "Oh, you're beautiful, aren't you?"  
  
Crono, watching from the road, was quite enraptured by the sight of the blonde girl gazing dreamily at the mare, running a hand over the animal's sleek coat, as a slight breeze ruffled her hair, brushing it gently back from her forehead.  
  
Lucca was less enraptured by the scene, and indeed, by horses in general, as the grey horse had apparently decided that he wanted some of this special treatment, too, and had begun to trot closer to the fence.  
  
"Erk! Uh, okay, you want this? Alright..."  
  
She held her hand out, making sure to keep her fingers fully extended. She'd probably need all of them later in life, after all...She flinched, squeezing her eyes shut, as the large horse nuzzled her palm, then swept his tongue over it, taking with it the grass.  
  
"Okay, so it wasn't that bad..."  
  
"See? Aren't horses great?!" Marle commented, hopping down from the fence to snatch another handful of grass. "Oh, come up here this time, Lucca! That way, you can get really close!"  
  
"Oh...great. Well, what the heck?"  
  
Somewhat emboldened by the fact that she was, indeed, still alive after so close an encounter with a very large horse, Lucca took Marle's advice and climbed up to the top rail, balancing carefully on the narrow strip of wood.  
  
"See?" the princess chirped. "Isn't this great?! Now, give your new friend the treat you have for him!"  
  
Heart thudding with nervousness, palms now clammy enough to make the grass stick to them uncomfortably, stomach feeling as though it had dropped clean away, Lucca clung desperately to the top rail on which she was perched, and shakily held out her other hand with its bunch of grass. The large grey horse had just lowered his muzzle to sniff at the treat offered him, when a familiar voice rang out behind her, quite shattering the placid state she had forced her mind into.  
  
"We don't have time to play with the animals! We have to get moving. Now, get the hell down before I drag you two off, myself!"  
  
Marle, with a grumble, prepared to hop off the fence. Lucca was not so fortunate. Magus's shout had startled her, and, reflexively, she had curled her fingers up slightly. As such, when her large grey friend began to retrieve the grass, he tried to retrieve one of her fingers with it. The pain shot through her hand, jolting her, and making her forget temporarily about her precarious position. She lost her balance and began to fall forward. With a shriek, Marle grabbed her friend's arm, only to realize that she had no solid base of support to start pulling from. As such, as Lucca fell forward into the pen, Marle was dragged up, over the fence, and down in behind her.  
  
The two horses, made quite skittish by their unexpected and uninvited visitors, reared back and began frantically pounding the ground. The two other horses occupying the pen, a large black monster, of around the same size, but a considerably more antisocial personality than the grey horse, and a slightly smaller, but just as antisocial mare of a deep chestnut, thundered over the dew-wet grass toward the strange scene to investigate. Marle, taking in the hysteria of the animals, quickly rolled out of the way and darted to the other end of the pasture, shouting at Lucca to do the same.  
  
Lucca, however, it seemed, was just as panicked as the horses, and so, she was able to do little more than jump back to avoid the frequent blows of the Crushing Hooves of Doom.  
  
"You do know, of course, that being stepped on by one of those horses would probably kill you," Magus called from the road, where he was currently situated, watching the unfolding action, arms crossed, a slight smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. "You might want to think about moving a little more quickly."  
  
"Thank-you for that," Lucca shouted back sarcastically before returning to panic. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap," she whimpered, frantically trying to scramble away, unwittingly rattling the animals even more with her sudden flurry of motion.  
  
"Cedry!" Crono yelled from the end of the fence as he hopped over to haul Marle to her feet and drag her out. "What's wrong with you?! You're closest! Help her!"  
  
"U-um...me?" Cedry choked out weakly, eyeing the horses warily.  
  
"How many crooked, cowardly farmers named Cedry are we travelling with?" Magus demanded dryly.  
  
"I can't!" that same crooked, cowardly farmer wailed. "I hate horses!"  
  
"Oh, for the love of all things holy," Magus grumbled, shoving his scythe at the startled young man. "Hold this."  
  
Then he turned and strode toward the fence.  
  
"Go on!" he bellowed at the horses with a wide sweeping motion of his arm as he vaulted lightly over the fence. The horses, feeling that this would be the safest course of action, turned and retreated with a snort that showed their disgust with all these people. Or maybe they just snorted because that's what horses tend to do. Who knows?  
  
At any rate, once over the fence, Magus shot one final glare at the four quickly-retreating horses before kneeling next to the terrified girl huddled against the fence.  
  
"Are you hurt?" he asked brusquely, resting a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"N-n-no, just fine," she stammered out, trying to rise, only to find that her legs were quite unwilling to cooperate and stop shaking long enough for her to do so. With an impatient sigh, Magus seized her by the waist, threw her over his shoulder, and climbed back over the fence.  
  
"Ow!" she shrieked as his shoulder dug into her stomach.  
  
"Don't complain, geek. Your skull could have been powder by now," he informed her with a scowl, setting her on the hard-packed dirt path.  
  
"Yeah, thanks," she replied, only half-sarcastically, brushing the stray bits of grass and dirt from her front.  
  
He gazed at her for a moment, as though about to say something, then seemed to think better of it, and simply turned and stalked away.  
  
"Now that that's over with, can we get the hell out of here?" he tossed back over his shoulder.  
  
Crono and Marle watched his stride down the dirt road leading away from the town, perplexed by what had just transpired between the two.  
  
"What do you think that was all about? Why did he help her at all without being asked?" the swordsman whispered to the princess. She shook her head.  
  
"I have no idea," she replied.  
  
"Weird," Crono finally commented, shrugging. "Oh, well. C'mon, let's go."  
  
Crono and Marle, arm in arm, set off to catch up with Magus. Cedry started after them. Lucca remained for a moment, leaning against the fence post on the other side of the road, a frown wrinkling her brow beneath her helmet as some things occurred to her.  
  
"Hey, Cedry!" she called after the farmer's retreating back, leaning sideways against the fence. "Hold up a minute."  
  
The man stopped and turned, starting back towards her.  
  
"What is it, my dear?"  
  
"I'm not your - oh, never mind. Crono tells me you're a farmer around here."  
  
"Yes, that's true," Cedry beamed proudly.  
  
"Hmm...a little weird, then, that you were spending the night at the inn."  
  
"Merely for the sake of convenience, I assure you."  
  
"The sake of fleeing more conveniently?" she snorted. "And where were you planning to flee to, anyway?"  
  
"Well...my farm," he replied lamely, his palms growing slightly clammy. Lucca pursed her lips.  
  
"Okay, I guess that checks out. But I have a question: what kind of self- respecting farmer would put his wife, his children, and his entire livelihood in danger by running there to escape his debtors? Because no farmer that I've ever known would do something that cowardly," she commented, utterly failing to mention that the number of farmers that she was acquainted with was rather small, and certainly not sufficient information on which to base a study of that fine class of people. That simply wasn't important.  
  
"I...was fleeing to my farm merely to collect my wife and children."  
  
"And leave all your animals behind?"  
  
"You didn't let me finish. And my calves, and my goats, and my chickens."  
  
"Hmm...that'd be quite the travelling menagerie, but I guess the idea isn't unheard of."  
  
Cedry nodded, satisfied that this little snip seemed to have bought his story, and turned to follow the rest of the group. She stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"I just have one more question," she began slowly.  
  
Cedry rolled his eyes.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"What kind of farmer is afraid of horses?"  
  
"Dammit!" Cedry hissed. "Alright, Little Lucca, I'm going to tell you something now that may astound you."  
  
"Go ahead and tell me, Stupid Cedry, but be warned that if you call me that again, you might end up with one less head. I won't go into detail as to which I'd remove first."  
  
"E-er, point, taken. My revelation is only this: I am not actually a farmer."  
  
"Oh. Really. What. A. Shock. I just may die of it. Okay, so if you're not a farmer, what do you do?"  
  
Cedry drew himself up proudly.  
  
"I am not a farmer, nor is my name Cedry Kaughnee. That is only my brilliant alias. I am Cedric Kaughnee, the world's greatest highway man!"  
  
Lucca, who had begun to push away from the fence and walk toward the rest of the group, stopped still and blinked.  
  
"You're...a highway man. Named Cedric, not Cedry. A highway man? So...why did you try to swindle us like you did?"  
  
"I was looking to pick up a little extra cash," Cedric replied with a shrug.  
  
"But...don't most highway men mug passing people on highways, hence the name, I should think, in the dead of night?"  
  
"Well...I'm not a very good fighter," the man revealed, pouting. Lucca rubbed her eyes wearily, starting down the road.  
  
"Yeah, you're not a very good schemer, either, it would seem," she called back over her shoulder.  
  
Cedric scowled after her, and would have said more, had he not caught the warning and quite excessively foreboding eye of Magus. As such, he merely shrank back with a sheepish smile.  
  
  
  
"Okay, guys," Crono announced, glancing quickly into a clearing to his left, "let's stop here and eat."  
  
A collective sigh of relief rose from the group, minus Magus, who, predictably, was annoyed at the delay this would cause. The rest, though, had had quite enough of fighting their way through a densely-growing forest during the hottest part of the day. Cedric, it turned out, was as good with directions as he was with horses, and had thus had led them into this forest as a 'short-cut,' which really should not have been named as such. They could, Crono reflected grimly, busily shooting death-glares, and trying to prevent Lucca from shooting fireballs, at Kaughnee, have gotten to the town little over an hour ago, had they simply taken the main road, as had been suggested to them. Now, they were hopelessly lost, tired, sweaty, and even Marle was beginning to wonder if, at times like this, life really were worth living.  
  
"How much farther do you think we'll have to go after this, Crono?" Marle asked wearily, collapsing onto a fallen log and sprinkling water from her canteen over her face.  
  
Crono paused for a moment in the act of digging into his travel bag for their supply of food, and shrugged.  
  
"I don't really know. Ask our tour guide," he finished, glaring darkly at Cedric.  
  
"Yeah, Cedry, tell Marle how much longer this 'short cut' is gonna take," Lucca suggested, smirking. "And while you're at it, why don't you tell everyone about your real name and profession?"  
  
Cedric adopted an expression somewhat like that of someone who had just swallowed a worm, or something equally 'icky.' Lucca shook her head. She knew that, most likely, none of the rest of the party would care especially about the fact that he was really a highway man, or that he had been using a false name - or what passed for one, at any rate, she reflected, a sweatdrop suspending in the air to the right of her head. Indeed, they'd probably already guessed it. Heck, even Marle'd probably been able to figure out that there was something wrong with this guy. It was fun, though, to see him squirm under the sudden scrutiny of Crono and Magus.  
  
"What of this 'real profession?'" Magus demanded coldly, folding his arms. "I could've guessed that you weren't a farmer, but I hadn't any idea what field actually would take you in."  
  
"My guess is clown, personally," Crono put in, flopping down next to Marle, who was beginning to sketch absent-minded patterns in the earth dampened by the humidity of the air, with a stick.  
  
"Heh-heh-heh...clown. That's good," Cedric choked nervously, hoping to buy sympathy with flattery. "But, no, I'm a highwayman."  
  
"A...highwayman," Magus repeated, leaning back against a tree, one eyebrow shooting up. "You're joking, right?"  
  
"No!" Cedric exclaimed huffily. "Why would you think that?!"  
  
"Well, for one," Magus began, completely ignoring that the question had obviously been rhetorical, "isn't some degree of...intelligence something of a requirement for such a career?"  
  
Crono and Lucca snickered. Marle, quite engrossed in etching a kitty into the ground, did not. Cedric, quite offended, simply crossed his arms, pouted, and said nothing.  
  
"And isn't coordination an important trait, too?"  
  
Cedric nodded sulkily.  
  
"Well, from what we saw of your 'fighting skills' when we ran into that imp back there, hell, you're even clumsier than the geek."  
  
"Hey!" Lucca protested. "Leave me out of this!"  
  
"I wasn't that bad!" Cedric expostulated.  
  
"And just what's that supposed to mean?!" Lucca demanded, wheeling on him furiously.  
  
"Not that bad?" Crono repeated, ignoring his best friend. "You face-planted right into the ground! Twice!"  
  
"That thing tripped me!" Cedric exclaimed in his defence.  
  
"Only the first time," Magus reminded him calmly.  
  
"Well...the second time, I was flustered!"  
  
"What's this about my being clumsy?" Lucca demanded, not so willing to let the matter go. "I am NOT clumsy!"  
  
Magus chuckled darkly, shaking his head.  
  
"Just who was the one who fell into a horse pen today?"  
  
"The horse bit me!"  
  
"So easy to find an excuse."  
  
"You jerk! I am NOT clumsy!"  
  
"Hey, enough, guys," Crono pleaded. "Let's just make some food, enjoy this stop, and stop bickering like children, okay?"  
  
"You're right, Crono," Lucca admitted sheepishly. "Sorry."  
  
"Yeah, I'm sorry, too," Cedric added. Marle dropped her stick and looked up at him.  
  
"Hey, Lucca said Cedry Kaughnee's not your real name, right?"  
  
He nodded. Marle cocked her head to one side curiously.  
  
"So, what is it, then?"  
  
"Erm...Cedric Kaughnee," Cedric admitted.  
  
Crono stared at him incredulously, then glanced at Magus, who simply rolled his eyes, disgusted by the stupidity of their guide, and then at Lucca, who was, by now, nearly rolling on the layer of pine needles covering the earth in an effort not to burst into hysterical giggles at the young red-headed man's dumbfounded expression.  
  
"Doesn't one normally have to possess some degree of creativity to be a highwayman, too?" Magus wondered aloud.  
  
"Hey, Magus, if you ever get tired of that name, you could call yourself 'Maggie,'" Marle suggested, giggling.  
  
"Or 'Margaret,' if you really want to confuse people," Lucca suggested. "And Marle! If you called yourself 'Marla,' I'm sure no one would ever know who you were!"  
  
"Hee-hee!" Marle giggled. "Marla. I like that. And you could be Luccy!"  
  
"And then you could get a boat, and paint it green!" Cedric suggested, an old sea shanty bouncing its way through his head. The laughter of the two girls fell silent as all eyes swivelled to stare at him. He shrugged lamely. "Just a thought."  
  
"Hey, what would I be?" Crono asked, leaning forward eagerly.  
  
"You?" Lucca put a finger to her chin, considering. "We could just call you 'Crone.'"  
  
"Oh, good god," Magus muttered. "Look, can we just eat something, so we can get back on the road, so we actually have some chance of getting back to Epoch before Hell freezes over?"  
  
"Hey, man, it's alright," Crono assured him, digging back into his pack and hauling out their supply of jerky. "We're just relaxing a bit, trying to have some fun."  
  
"At my expense," Cedric muttered sourly, crossing his arms and plunking to the ground against a tree.  
  
"We don't have time for it," Magus informed Crono coldly, ignoring Cedric.  
  
"Fine," Crono shot back, climbing reluctantly to his feet and handing each of the small band a chunk of bread and a strip of Jerky.  
  
"Blech," Cedric commented tactfully, examining the greasy meat. "What is this mess?"  
  
"If you don't like it, someone else could eat your share," Lucca suggested cheerfully. Cedric clutched his food protectively.  
  
"No need. I'm sure I've eaten worse."  
  
"Your foot, for one example," Magus, despite his firm resolution not to talk anymore, just couldn't resist adding.  
  
And this seemed to be the last word on the subject of Jerky, strange eating habits, and, indeed, anything for some time.  
  
  
  
As for the rest of the journey, once Magus took it into his head to steal Cedric's voice with a well-placed silence spell, so that the man would stop calling out at every turn, 'I know a better way - much faster,' the trip passed without incident, and surprisingly quickly. Where Cedric's 'natural aptitude' in the fine art of 'guiding' would have likely kept them outside for the night somewhere in the dense forest, the sun dipping behind the hills, casting its spell of fiery gold and pink over the landscape, saw them instead trudging wearily into the town.  
  
  
  
"Thank the gods we're finally here," the ever-positive Marle breathed as Crono glanced about, searching for a tavern or an inn.  
  
"Alright, Cedric," Magus spoke up from behind the unlikely highwayman, frightening him about a foot off the ground in a nervous jump, "this is what you're being paid for. Where do we go to find what we need?"  
  
"Uhm...er...I think we should all rest first. Don't you agree, Crono? Get a start looking for supplies tomorrow?"  
  
"In other words, he has no idea," Lucca murmured to no one in particular.  
  
"I...guess we could do that," Crono agreed warily, one eyebrow lifting slightly.  
  
"No, we couldn't," Magus broke in flatly. "You're going to take us to somewhere that sells what we need, you're going to get us that deal we were promised, and you're going to do it now, or you're going to cease to exist very shortly."  
  
"Heh...heh..." Cedric laughed weakly, his gaze darting around like a small creature trapped behind iron bars, and sharing its prison with a lion. "Well...I think it'd be best to go to the market first. There's a guy who knows me there. He can probably get us better prices."  
  
"Alright, sounds good," Crono agreed, much-surprised. Could it be that this man would actually come through on something?  
  
And so they gathered their things together and headed off to the market. Indeed, it seemed as though the luck of the group had changed, that they were a little closer to their aim of getting their supplies and getting the hell back to the plot. And then, disaster struck.  
  
"Hey! Watch it, Princess," Lucca snapped as Magus, intently watching Cedric to insure that he remained with them, and as such, not watching where he was going, walked full-on into her, sending both toppling to the ground.  
  
"Shut up, four-eyes," he growled back, climbing to his feet and carefully dusting off his cape. "If you would actually walk, instead of lagging like you do, perhaps you wouldn't be such an easy target!  
  
"Oh, and I guess it must be hard for you to see, still having your head up your ass as you do," she commented sweetly, hauling herself from the ground.  
  
"One of these days," he began ominously, glaring darkly at her, "I am going to have had as much of your cheeky little comments as I can take, and I may just forget about my own ridiculous conscience, as well as the fact that we are allies."  
  
"Enough, okay, you guys?" Crono pleaded, wondering, not for the first time, exactly what was wrong with these two today. "Can we just keep going?"  
  
And so they did, this momentary hold-up only making them do so more quickly, but, as Magus's attention was now consumed with busily shooting death-glares at the purple-haired object of his wrath, he forgot entirely to keep a watchful eye on Cedric Kaughnee.  
  
As such, Marle's first comment upon walking into the small, rather tumbledown market, while blinking to adjust herself to the dust hanging thickly in the dimly-lit room, ran something along the lines of,  
  
"Hey, where's Cedric?"  
  
"Aw, dammit!" Crono exclaimed, delivering a kick to the doorframe.  
  
"Hey, hey, hey! Calm down and leave the masonry alone!" the shopkeeper instructed, scowling darkly at the red-head.  
  
"Sorry," Crono replied sheepishly. Marle shook her head and sighed.  
  
"Sir, have you seen a man of about twenty-eight, with brown hair, brown eyes, really farmer-ey clothes...and...um..."  
  
"Weak, noodle-like arms," Lucca continued, "who calls himself either Cedry or Cedric Kaughnee, and says he's either a farmer or 'the world's greatest highwayman?'"  
  
The man behind the waist-high, knot-hole-strewn counter raised an eyebrow and surveyed the small group suspiciously.  
  
"Whaddaya want with him?"  
  
"Well, he said he'd bring us here to show us the best place to buy the supplies we need," Marle replied, gazing wide-eyed at the man. He stared incredulously back at the travellers for a moment, before he was overcome by a fit of laughter.  
  
Crono, Lucca, and Magus exchanged impatient glances as the man flopped forward against the counter, pounding it repeatedly with his fist, howling with laughter. Marle merely looked on, confused.  
  
"Oh, come on," Magus broke in impatiently. "Can you just calm down and tell us what this is all about?"  
  
"I'm sorry to tell you this," the shopkeeper began, peeling himself off of the counter and wiping his eyes, "but that guy's an idiot. We've seen him around before, offering to help people fix things, do odd jobs, hell, even take them on a cruise, but he always disappears before morning, with their money. So then they come blustering in here," he continued, his previous good humour suddenly evaporating, "expecting us to fix it! Well, sorry, but we ain't gonna fix it this time! You were the ones stupid enough to trust him, so you can just deal with it!"  
  
Crono peered at the man, one eyebrow raised.  
  
"Uh...alright, that's fair enough. But...could you tell us the best place to buy supplies?"  
  
"Oh, I'm sure I could," the shopkeeper drawled, "but it'll cost you."  
  
"We're used to that by now," Magus assured the man, leaning against the wall, arms folded.  
  
"Oh, shut up," Lucca requested. Magus simply growled back. Crono pressed a hand to his forehead. He'd have to talk to those two again later, but for now...  
  
"Okay, what'll it cost?"  
  
"A night with that nice little piece over there," the shopkeeper replied, eyebrows waggling lecherously. Marle drew herself up to her full height and fixed him with a piercing glare.  
  
"I don't sell my favours," she informed him freezingly. "For anything."  
  
"What?" The man behind the counter blinked, confused. "Yeah, that's fine, sweetie. I meant the little lady with the glasses. Oh, yeah. You're one smart cookie, aren't ya, honey?"  
  
For a time, silence reigned in the small shop as the party of four glanced at one another in utter shock. Finally Lucca spoke up with a nervous laugh.  
  
"Gee, I don't know whether to be kinda flattered, or to kill him."  
  
"I'll take care of the second one, if you don't," Magus replied without thinking, shooting the man a withering gaze. The man held up his hands in a placating gesture.  
  
"Hey, hey, sorry, I didn't know I was stepping on any toes here. It sure as heck didn't seem like there was anything going on."  
  
"Going - WHAT?! There is nothing going on! The mere idea is repulsive! More repulsive than I can ever say! Ever!"  
  
Finished with this tirade, Magus turned away from the rest of the group, arms crossed emphatically, a hint of colour staining his cheeks.  
  
"Denial is an ugly thing, isn't it, kiddo?" the shopkeeper murmured to Lucca. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure you can think of some way to get him to act."  
  
And so it was that our new friend the shopkeeper saw his life flashing before his eyes as both blushing parties involved readied themselves to attack. Luckily, though, due to an intervention of two guardian angels in the form of Crono and Marle, who each took ahold of one of their friends arms and half-led, half dragged them from the shop, he lived to see another day.  
  
Lucky him. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Chapter 3 (Geez, Rhianwen's Not Even Trying Anymore!)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Wonderful!" Crono exclaimed, pacing back and forth, drawing curious, amused, and annoyed glances from the various folks ambling through the town square on their way home for a quiet evening, or on their way to the tavern for a night of revelry.  
  
Standing side-by-side in a line, Marle, Lucca, and Magus followed him with their gazes, eyes shifting back and forth, heads turning in unison. After leaning briefly against a signpost in an effort to calm down and finding it futile, Crono pushed back up off of the post and continued both ranting and pacing.  
  
"Now, not only is Cedric gone, WITH the money we paid him..."  
  
Magus smirked significantly at this, and was completely ignored by Crono, who rushed on, pushing a hand back through his mass of spiky red hair, doing little to set it to order.  
  
"...but we're stuck in this town, none of us has any idea where to find the things we need, and that shopkeeper we just met is liable to have us arrested if we so much as go near his shop again!"  
  
"I know what you're trying to imply, Crono," Lucca began hesitantly, "but this isn't all our fault!"  
  
"Not all your fault?" the young man repeated incredulously. "Who tried to end the man's life, Lucca?!"  
  
Quite seeing his point, she looked away sheepishly, guilty colour staining her cheeks. She wasn't prone to such outbursts ordinarily, but the day had been a trying one, and something about that entire exchange had struck her entirely the wrong way. Explainable, the outburst had been, certainly, but not excusable. She shook her head, resolving to never go wacko like that again.  
  
Magus, it seemed, suffered no such guilt over HIS outburst.  
  
"What was I supposed to do?" he demanded, arms crossed. "Just let the man imply something so offensive? I have my pride!"  
  
"Gee, thanks," Lucca muttered sourly, mentally whacking herself upside the head nearly the second the statement was voiced. Luckily, though, Crono was too caught up with explaining to Magus why exactly he couldn't kill every person who pissed him off, and Magus too caught up with ignoring the red- headed youth, to pay her slight slip of the tongue any mind. She sighed with relief...and then glanced up to catch the wickedly-glinting eye of Marle.  
  
'Oh, boy...' she groaned inwardly, knowing full well to expect an interrogation about this later.  
  
Marle continued to cast knowing glances in her friend's direction while waiting for the two men to cease arguing. Gradually, though, the knowing glances became glances of shared impatience, and Lucca found herself returning them. A few more minutes, and the impatience turned into irritation. Finally, with a roll of her eyes, Marle stepped forward, put her fingers to her lips, and let out a piercing whistle. Every eye in the town square stared at her in baffled amazement. The young woman sighed.  
  
"Alright," she called to the random passing townspeople who had stopped to take in the show, "all of you, move along! You two," she continued, fixing both Crono and Magus with a stern glare, "listen up. And Lucca," she finished, not turning to her friend, "no matter how many times you ask me to teach you to do that, I'm going to have to tell you the same thing: it isn't something you can teach. It's something you can either do, or you can't. There is no 'teach.'"  
  
The citizens bustling through the square moved more quickly at the command barked out in the rather frightening tone that the normally sweet, good- natured girl had stored in her arsenal for just such an occasion as this. Crono shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of his girlfriend, whom, as he would comment to her later, he had never seen like this. Magus simply crossed his arms and returned her stern gaze with a cool, appraising one of his own. Lucca looked away, pouting in disappointment. 'I'll never be able to startle people out of ten years' life like that,' she lamented sadly.  
  
"Wh-what's up, Marle?" Crono piped up, finally finding his voice.  
  
"Crono, YOU are the one who has been complaining the whole way here about how we have to keep moving, how we can't waste time!"  
  
"Actually," Lucca pointed out thoughtfully, "wasn't that Magus?"  
  
"Right, right. Anyway, Magus, you spend the entire way here complaining about how we're lagging too much, and then you waste time like this, starting a fight with Crono!"  
  
"Okay," Lucca broke in once again, "now, THAT was Crono starting a fight with him."  
  
Marle wheeled on her furiously.  
  
"I don't care!"  
  
"Y-y-yes, ma'am," Lucca agreed meekly, shrinking back.  
  
Crono sighed.  
  
"Alright, Marle's got a point. We do want to get this little side-trip on the move again. So, what do we want to do? Should we go try to get stuff to repair Epoch, or should we sleep first, and try to shop for equipment tomorrow morning?"  
  
"Or should we hunt down Kaughnee and kill him first?" Magus suggested, growling slightly at the thought of their absent acquaintance.  
  
"Oh, come on, Magus," Crono scoffed. "He's probably long-gone by now."  
  
"Or," Marle added, staring at something beyond his shoulder, "he could be right over there."  
  
Adjusting her glasses, Lucca joined the princess in peering at the little kiosk.  
  
"Stealing...are those...action figures?"  
  
"No!" a short, stout figure exclaimed severely, waddling out from behind his booth and snatching up one of the little dolls, completely ignoring the young man busily shovelling row after row of them into a brown burlap sack. Approaching Lucca, the merchant shook the one in his hand at her. "This is not an action figure! This is a commemorative statuette!"  
  
"Oh...right," Lucca agreed. Then she looked more closely at the object. "Hey, can I see that?"  
  
"Why, certainly. Impressed with the magnificent craftsmanship, aren't you? The superior detail, the impeccable paint job..."  
  
"Look, guys!" the purple-haired girl genius exclaimed, waving the figurine before the eyes of her friends. "It's Magus!"  
  
"Ah, a good eye, my dear," Commemorative Statuette Guy noted, eyebrows lifting. "Are you perhaps a scholar, too? Yes, it is, indeed, Magus. I sell these, commemorating the near-victory of Magus against the army of the King of Guardia four-hundred years ago!"  
  
"But...I thought everyone hated Magus," Crono reflected, scratching his head.  
  
"Not so!" the action-figure-bearing man hastened to inform the young swordsman. "The Mystics were the true heroes in that conflict! They were by far the more enlightened race! THEY don't mercilessly taunt one another at their lack of physical prowess! THEY don't ruthlessly turn down other Mystics for dates based only on appearance! THEY don't gang up on weaker Mystics and inflict the horrendous pain of a nipple-twist just because the poor souls couldn't manage one single pull-up!"  
  
"Oh, don't they?" Magus muttered under his breath, smirking at the memory of one such immensely entertaining, albeit cruel escapade.  
  
"So...people around here LIKE Magus, then?" Crono asked, feeling that life really had become far too complex at last.  
  
"We don't!" two small voices exclaimed together. All gazes darted over to land on a little boy and a little girl, both with Magus statuettes clasped tightly in their hands.  
  
"Then what are you going to do with those?" Marle wondered.  
  
"I'm going to jump on mine!" the little girl, vaguely rat-like in feature, with a red pointy hat covering her pale, silvery blonde, nearly white hair, announced proudly.  
  
"I'm going to throw mine so far, it hits its own shadow," the little boy with oddly red, dreadlocked hair informed them.  
  
"I'm going to light mine on fire!" a third little boy, nearly buried beneath a massive yellow hat, proclaimed jubilantly.  
  
"Uh...right," Commemorative Statuette Guy said slowly, waddling back to his kiosk.  
  
"What an idiot," Magus muttered to Lucca, gesturing toward that same Guy. With a sigh, Lucca nodded her agreement.  
  
"Hey!" another small voice called from behind them. Both turned to observe a young boy of around ten years old staring up at the sorcerer. "You look a lot like Magus!"  
  
"...Oh. Do I?" he asked with a smirk.  
  
The boy nodded.  
  
"Yeah! You aren't him, are you?"  
  
"...No. I'm...just a really rabid Magus-fanboy who's lucky enough to look remarkably like him," Magus replied dryly.  
  
"...Oh. That's good, 'cause it would be really bad if you were him."  
  
With that, the young boy turned and sauntered away, smacking the head of his Magus statuette against a wooden post as he went.  
  
As she watched the child depart, Lucca turned to Magus, held up one hand, and opened her mouth to say something, then thought better of it and shook her head. Then she repeated this procedure again. On the third time, though, he caught her wrist.  
  
"Oh, would you just say it?!"  
  
"...What the heck just happened there?"  
  
"We learned that every child in this town is either insane, stupid, or a pyromaniac."  
  
"Just the kids?" Lucca repeated incredulously, her gaze following Commemorative Statuette Guy, who was now polishing up the remaining twelve statues that Cedric had neglected to snatch from his stand.  
  
"Hmm...there are only twelve statuettes left, but I seem to have only a third of the profits I should. Ah, I remember now. I was forced to compromise on the price of nearly every sale I made today. Worst sales-day ever," the merchant noted sadly, rubbing the straggly light-brown hair sprinkled over his chin.  
  
Then her gaze skipped away from him and jumped to the aforementioned Cedric, who was crouched next to a fence not twenty-five feet away, counting through his stolen merchandise.  
  
"Ah, yes," Magus agreed. "I see your point. Everyone in this town, regardless of age, is an idiot."  
  
Then, without another word, he stalked over to the would-be highwayman, seized him firmly by the collar, and dragged him to his feet.  
  
"Ack!" Cedric intoned articulately as he found the ground dropping away from him, and his air supply abandoning him similarly.  
  
"Hey, c'mon, Magus," Marle called, to the dismay of the rest of her team. If anyone in the town square made the connection between the blue-haired man currently harassing the budding kleptomaniac and the much-discussed commemorative statues, though, they gave no sign of it. "Don't kill him!"  
  
"It's the least he deserves," Magus growled, dragging the unfortunate man over to the others.  
  
"For what?" Cedric demanded. "For trying to make an honest buck?"  
  
"No, for trying to skip out on us WITH that 'honest buck' without fulfilling your end of the bargain," Crono replied sternly.  
  
"Twice," Lucca murmured beneath her breath. Both Cedric and Magus shot her warning glances. Shrugging, she surreptitiously nodded back, letting them know that whatever secret it was that they wanted kept was safe.  
  
"Alright, so, what do we do now?" Crono asked, not for the first time that evening. "I'm half-inclined to just go get our supplies tomorrow and sleep now."  
  
"Good idea," Cedric hastened to pipe up, praying that the fading light would hide the relief, not quite concealed, that was breaking over his face. "Everything'll probably be closed now."  
  
"Oh, great," Magus grumbled. "So, we find an inn for tonight? Only two rooms. You two can share one." He waved dismissively in the direction of Marle and Lucca. "Crono and I will share a room with Kaughnee. And be warned, both of us are light sleepers. What doesn't wake one of us will likely wake the other."  
  
"But...Crono isn't a light sleeper," Marle noted aside to Lucca. "He sleeps like a rock!"  
  
"Yeah, WE know that," Lucca hastened to assure the princess, frantically shushing any further comment. "But Cedric doesn't know that!"  
  
A light seemed to break over Marle's face, nearly illuminating the by-now- complete darkness as the situation clicked in her mind. Then she put a finger to her lips in the universal signal of 'keep-it-quiet,' and the girls jogged to catch up with the three men walking on ahead. Once they had, Marle took Crono's hand in hers, and two nice young people suddenly became a good deal happier and more peaceful. Magus slowed his pace enough to fall into step beside Lucca. She stared at him curiously for a time, not exactly sure what had prompted this. He kept his eyes on Marle, Crono, and Cedric, seeming to not even know she was there. Finally, when Cedric said something to the pair, causing Marle to giggle and Crono to drop his head to his hand in despair, Magus leaned down slightly and muttered to the scientist,  
  
"Forget the entire incident involving Kaughnee's attempted flight from the inn last night. Crono and Marle are unaware of it, and we would like it to stay that way. For our intents and purposes, it didn't happen. Got that?"  
  
Lucca frowned.  
  
"Why are you trying to keep it from Crono? Why do you want to help the idiot?"  
  
He stopped and turned to peer down at her. For a time, he didn't move, his expression fairly neutral. Then he smirked.  
  
"Blackmail fodder."  
  
  
  
  
  
"Hi!" Marle greeted the girl behind the desk brightly. "Can we get two rooms for the night?"  
  
"TWO rooms?" the girl repeated, gazing askance at the group, likely arriving on her own at all sorts of weird conclusions on who would be sharing a room with who and what would be happening therein, what with Marle and Crono still with their arms around one another, and Magus gripping Cedric by the back of the collar, both him and Lucca busily casting all sorts of glares at the man, who shifted uncomfortably and tried to retreat into his shirt.  
  
"Yup!" Marle confirmed cheerfully, snuggling closer to Crono as she did so. Thinking things not lawful to be uttered, but determined not to ask any questions, the desk-girl, whom we shall call Alice, pulled two keys from two nails pounded halfway into the wall, and handed them to the lovely blonde.  
  
"Thank-you!" With this, Marle handed one of the keys to Crono, and untwined her arm from around his shoulders. After examining the key, she looked up. "We're in Room 7, Lucca."  
  
Smothering a yawn, Lucca nodded, and then turned and started up the polished wooden staircase. As Marle skipped up the steps behind her, Crono sent one final fond smile to his girlfriend, and then glanced down at the key in his own hand.  
  
"We're all in Room 4," he informed Magus and Cedric. "Well, I'm gonna head up now. You two can come on up whenever you're ready."  
  
Thus saying, Crono turned and began to climb the stairs after the girls. With a sigh, Magus followed, tugging Cedric roughly by the collar as he did so.  
  
  
  
Alice watched the group ascend to the second floor, blinking in surprise at how quickly her inferences had been proved false. When they were finally out of earshot, she gave voice to the burning question that filled her mind.  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
  
  
  
  
"So, Lucca," Marle began, leaning forward eagerly. From her own bed, Lucca raised one eye from her book, somewhat annoyed by the interruption.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Whatcha reading?"  
  
"A book."  
  
"Well, yeah," Marle giggled. "What's it about?"  
  
With a sigh, Lucca sat up and handed the hefty volume to the other girl. Nearly toppling forward off her own bed under the weight of a book that she had not expected to be quite so heavy and had thus tried to accept with one hand, Marle quickly recovered and sat up.  
  
"Um...'Principles of Astronomy and a Discussion on the Theoretical Existence of Universes Parallel to Our Own?' Okay, Lucca, I only knew, like, three of those words. How can you read this?"  
  
"And how can you read that?" Lucca demanded triumphantly, pointing to the small, much yellowed, worn out copy of 'Sword of Steel, Heart of Lace.' "Are you actively TRYING to make your brain atrophy?"  
  
"Okay, so it may not be the deepest reading in the world," Marle agreed reluctantly, cuddling her book protectively, "but, with everything that's going on, sometimes I just...need to escape. And, come on. You've got to admit that there's no better escape than a romance novel." Then, grinning wickedly, she continued. "But maybe you'd better take a look at this. You might want to get some pointers about how women act to get the men they're after."  
  
Lucca rolled her eyes and glared at the other girl in the dim light of the oil lamp on the night table between the two narrow beds.  
  
"Oh, please, Marle. I think I know a little more about how to relate to people than the idiotic women in those...what exactly do you mean by that?"  
  
"Don't even try to deny it, Lucca!"  
  
"Deny what?" Lucca asked in manufactured confusion, praying that Marle wouldn't see right through it. Absorbed in her book, she had as good as forgotten the knowing smile that she had been so concerned about earlier. Now, it seemed, she was to be allowed to forget it no longer.  
  
Marle sighed impatiently and climbed off of her own bed to sit next to Lucca.  
  
"You play dumb really, really badly," she informed the other girl seriously, throwing an arm over her shoulders. "We both know full well that I mean Magus!"  
  
"I have no idea what you mean!" Lucca choked out, pulling away and vainly trying for utter astonishment at the mere suggestion.  
  
"Oh, like you'd just admit it to me! Of course, you're going to try to hide it! But if you're not interested in him at all, why did you blush when he carried you out of the horse pen?"  
  
"Marle, the blood was rushing to my face because he had his shoulder digging into my gut, and had me hanging upside down!"  
  
"Really?" Marle blinked, honestly astonished. "I didn't think blood started rushing that quickly."  
  
It doesn't, Lucca did not say. Instead, she shook her head and sighed.  
  
"Seriously, Marle, where do you come up with these things?"  
  
"I only comment on what I see," Marle informed her airily, crossing her arms. "Just one more thing: how do you explain the way he reacted when that shop guy was hitting on you?"  
  
"Look, I really don't know. Just...go to sleep, okay?"  
  
"You sleep if you want; I'm gonna read a bit," Marle decided, bouncing off of Lucca's bed and back to her own, then picking up 'Sword of Steel, Heart of Lace.'  
  
"Sure," Lucca replied with a sigh, folding back the blue patchwork quilt and climbing beneath the covers. "Good-night."  
  
"Good-night," Marle replied absently, already deeply engrossed in her novel.  
  
  
  
"Good morning, Magus," Crono called to the sorcerer as he strode down short cobblestone path leading from the inn.  
  
"Where's everyone else?" Magus demanded, peering suspiciously behind Crono.  
  
"Marle's packing up some things. Cedric and Lucca are waiting for her downstairs," the redheaded youth replied with a knowing smile. "I wouldn't trust him alone, after what happened yesterday."  
  
"Hmph. He was an idiot to think he could evade us for long," Magus observed, leaning back against the fence.  
  
"Yeah, well, he didn't need to try to run away to convince me that he's an idiot," Crono replied, flicking back a lock of hair blown into his eyes by an early morning breeze.  
  
"Not only an idiot, but an idiot with an overblown sense of his own intelligence."  
  
"Which really makes me wonder if he was exaggerating when he described himself as a 'mechanical whiz-kid.'"  
  
Magus gave a shout of laughter.  
  
"If he turns out to know any more about mechanics than that princess of yours does, I will die of shock," he promised, shaking his head.  
  
Crono was interrupted from defence of his girlfriend by the approach of three familiar figures.  
  
"Good morning, gentlemen," Marle greeted the two cheerfully as she enfolded Crono in a tight hug.  
  
"Hi, Marle," Crono greeted her, hugging back just as tightly. "Morning, Lucca. Hey, Cedric."  
  
"G'morning," Lucca replied sleepily.  
  
"It's too early!" Cedric whined, flopping forward over a stone fencepost.  
  
"Too bad that wasn't a little sharper," Magus muttered, gesturing to the fencepost. "We could have found one of our most aggravating problems quite neatly solved."  
  
At this, the highwayman peeled himself off of the rough grey stone and glared at the mage.  
  
"You're mean!"  
  
Magus shrugged.  
  
"Yes, and you're stupid. What's your point?"  
  
Cedric pouted. Choking back a laugh, Crono shook his head.  
  
"Okay, guys. The first thing we do is buy our supplies. Then, we get the heck out of this town and back to the rest of the group."  
  
"No, the FIRST thing we do is find a store that will sell us what we need," Lucca corrected with a sigh.  
  
"Oh...right," Crono agreed, scratching his head. "That might not be as easy as it sounds. Cedric? You said you knew where you could get us a deal. I think by now we all know that was a lie. But do you at least know where we'd go to buy what we need?"  
  
"To fix a vehicle? Yeah, I can get you to a place," Cedric announced proudly. Magus raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Could it be...the man is proving himself useful, after all?"  
  
"I wouldn't bet on it," Lucca told him gloomily as Crono and Marle set off after Cedric across the town square and into an alley.  
  
  
  
"Y'know," Crono began, leaning against the sign post in front of 'Granny Greene's All-Purpose General and Auto-Parts Supply Store,' which, to Lucca's immense surprise, Cedric had indeed lead them to without incident, "it finally occurs to me that I never asked what exactly's wrong with Epoch. I mean, I know about the tear down the left wing, but is there anything else we need to get? Or is it mainly just the fuel for the welding torch?"  
  
"Yeah, there's the wing," Lucca agreed, "but not a lot more, which is why I REALLY didn't need help with the repairs. Oh, I think the crash also jarred some wires out of place, so we'll need to pick up solder and a soldering iron."  
  
"Is...the iron to straighten out the wires if they're wrinkly?" Cedric inquired slowly, blinking in confusion.  
  
"And even if I needed help, I doubt I'd get a lot from him," she continued, flicking a strand of hair from her eyes with a long sigh.  
  
"Huh...probably not a good idea to bet on it," Crono agreed, casting his friend a sympathetic glance, and their ride-along highwayman a less sympathetic one. "Anything else we need?"  
  
"Well, I think we've most of the safety gear we'll need back at the Epoch...uhm...we could pick up a roll of wire to be safe."  
  
"That it?"  
  
"That's it," Lucca confirmed, and, with a nod, Crono turned and sauntered up the dirt lane and into the shop, leaving Cedric and his three guards waiting by the road.  
  
"Hmph," Magus commented articulately as Crono disappeared through the small wooden door. "It would seem that we're finally getting some damn luck at last."  
  
"Argh!" Lucca exclaimed, much to the surprise of everyone. "Well, we WOULD have, if YOU hadn't gone and jinxed it by saying that!"  
  
"Don't be so silly, Lucca," Marle admonished, shaking her head with a chuckle. "Our luck IS finally changing, and I think it's a good idea to comment on it before the Gods take us for ingrates and send us another run of back luck."  
  
"NOW who's being superstitious?" Lucca demanded with grim satisfaction.  
  
"Will you two shut up?!" Magus requested, falling sadly short of politeness, if that had indeed been his goal. This, as you may imagine, was doubtful.  
  
"Only if you quit yelling at us and watch Cedric like you're supposed to!"  
  
"I'm no damn zoo-keeper," Magus growled at the young scientist, who sent him, in reply, a glare that could have emanated straight from the very iciest, snowiest location in 12000 B.C.  
  
"Hey!" Cedric put in, offended. "I'm no zoo animal, either!"  
  
"No; you just play one remarkably well," Lucca agreed absently.  
  
With a smirk, Magus continued.  
  
"Perhaps you should think about giving up the fine career of highwayman, and think about impersonating zoo animals at birthday parties and the like."  
  
"So, a clown, like Crono said," Lucca paraphrased cheerfully.  
  
"You guys are BOTH really mean!" Cedric noted with a pout, turning away and crossing his arms. "Marle, can you tell them to lay off already?"  
  
"Hmm?" Marle turned, tearing her eyes away from the group of children playing a lively game of marbles nearby. "Sorry, what was that?"  
  
"Those two! They're being really mean to me!"  
  
"Oh, don't worry," Marle replied, her eye glinting in a way that aroused just that very reaction of worry in Lucca. "It's how they show their affection. Well," she continued, putting a finger to her lips thoughtfully, "for each other, anyway."  
  
"If she had a brain, I'd say she was trying make a funny," Magus commented, turning away to hide the slight rush of colour staining his face.  
  
"If you could tell a joke from a hole in the ground," Lucca added, turning the other way to hide the colour in her own.  
  
"Well, I am well enough able to identify the joke standing before me," he shot back, glaring scornfully at her. "What could be a bigger joke than an inventor who has yet to invent something that works?"  
  
"Maybe a dark Mystic king who couldn't overlord a piece of toast, let alone a kingdom?" she suggested, quite ready and more than willing to give as she got, as the flush on her cheeks deepened, this time with anger.  
  
"You're insane, child! All toast bows to me," Magus did not proclaim proudly, not striking a dramatic pose, his cape not blowing triumphantly out behind him in a breeze produced by a hundred Magus fangirls not frantically waving leaf-fans at him.  
  
As for what did happen, it was substantially less amusing. Magus, catching sight of a slight glimmer of hurt in her eye at his comment, decided, a little uneasily, that he had won, and thus wouldn't waste his time escalating the battle. As for the slight tug at the back of his mind that whispered that the unease might be guilt, he scoffed it efficiently into non-existence.  
  
It was at this lucky juncture that Crono chose to make his reappearance, a large brown sack slung over his shoulder.  
  
"Here's everything we need," he announced grumpily, "and the guy took it right out of my hide. Good God, did he overcharge!"  
  
"If you had taken me along," Cedric informed him mildly, thinking such claims quite safe, now, after the fact, "it would have been half what you paid."  
  
"Hmph. More likely, the man would have taken one look at you and doubled the price," Magus theorized, pushing off from the fence. "Now that we have what we need, can we leave?"  
  
"Geez, he's on a roll today," Lucca noted, still smarting under the sting of his earlier comment. Marle patted her on the shoulder, her large green eyes registering sympathy.  
  
Crono frowned curiously at this, but said nothing, and within ten minutes, the merry quintet made their way along the dirt road leading away from Caermal.  
  
  
  
And so, after another three days of long, hard travel - well, perhaps not so much long and hard as long and very, very tedious - the weary group found themselves approaching the camp site well hidden in the densely growing forest that the rest of the group occupied while awaiting their return.  
  
  
  
"Behold! Crono and the others return!" Frog called jubilantly up the massive apple tree to Ayla, who had been overcome by a sudden craving for fruit...specifically, for the fruit on the very top bough.  
  
On a side note, both had their doubts as to the true severity of this craving. Frog was rather inclined to believe that Ayla simply did not wish to talk to him. Ayla was quite inclined to agree. Not, as Frog would have hastened to tell anyone who asked, that he particularly disliked Ayla, or believed that she particularly disliked him, but, due to drastic differences in not only their interests, spheres of influence, and outlooks on life, but in their manners of speech as well, they simply did not understand one another well enough to carry on a conversation that would not end with one or both bored or utterly bewildered.  
  
"Ah! Ayla see!" the equally jubilant reply drifted down from the leafy canopy overhead. Then a confused noise followed it. "Who the other man with them?"  
  
"Ack!" Frog acked as Ayla hit the ground with a resounding 'thunk' next to him and straightened up. Then she tore over the pine needle-strewn path, darting between trees, to meet the rest of the group halfway. With a sigh, Frog turned and started off to look for Robo.  
  
  
  
"Ack! What in the heck is that?" Cedric demanded, recoiling in fear as the fur-barely-clad blonde fury bolted from between two trees, directly at the part, her golden hair streaming out behind her.  
  
"Oh, don't worry. That's Ayla. She's one of our friends. Hey, Ayla!" Crono called to the cavewoman. "How was everything while we were away?"  
  
"Boring," Ayla reported sadly. "Ayla want party! Food! Drink! Dance! Frog and Robo not know how to make party!"  
  
"Well, she's got us there," Marle observed with a laugh. "Frog's the only person in the world who could party less than a robot."  
  
"Right!" Ayla agreed. "Frog only want drink. No dance."  
  
"Well, tell you what, Ayla: I think we're all pretty glad to be back here, and out of that town, so why don't we party tonight?" Crono suggested.  
  
"Whoo! Par-tay!" Cedric exclaimed, grinning. Ayla's eyes narrowed.  
  
"Who this?" she demanded suspiciously.  
  
"Oh, right. Ayla, this is Cedric Kaughnee. He's...uh...he's here to help Lucca repair the Epoch.  
  
"Why need girly-man's help?" Ayla inquired, offended, but not nearly so offended as Cedric at this description of him. "Ayla could help Lucca!"  
  
"Doubtlessly much better," Lucca murmured.  
  
"Well..."Crono began, quite at a loss.  
  
"Don't even bother to ask, Ayla. There isn't an answer. Believe me. I've been asking myself the same question for the last four days, and I think I should have found it by now, if there were one at all," the purple-haired inventor sighed, shaking her head.  
  
"Ah. Ayla not understand you people," the stunning blonde informed them. Magus bit back a laugh.  
  
"She's summed it up."  
  
"You really are all nuts, aren't you?" Cedric demanded mournfully.  
  
Marle giggled.  
  
"I told you!" Then, as she caught sight of two figures emerging from the trees, she continued. "Oh, hi, Frog! Hi, Robo!"  
  
"Good day, my friends. It gladdens me to see that you hath all returned safely!" Frog called, emerging from behind a screen of pines, Robo close on his heels...or the frog equivalent thereof. Then, as his gaze lit on Cedric, he frowned. "And who dost thy new companion be?"  
  
"Frog, Robo, this is Cedric Kaughnee," Crono announced. Frog and Cedric both murmured some polite words of greeting. "He's here to help Lucca repair the Epoch."  
  
Frog looked somewhat hurt.  
  
"Friend Lucca, if thou required assistance with the task at hand, why didst thou not tell us?"  
  
"I don't need help, guys!" she exclaimed.  
  
"We talk about it tomorrow?" Ayla suggested. "Now, party! Eat! Drink! Dance!"  
  
"Wonderful," Magus commented, sarcasm dripping from his tone and making a nice little puddle on the ground surrounding him, which Robo hastened to mop up, lest someone slip in it and sprain an ankle.  
  
Once done with the task of mopping, Robo hurried to catch up with the rest of the group, who were slowly making their way through the trees toward their campsite and the Epoch's extended parking spot.  
  
"Why do I always have to clean up after everyone?" he demanded bitterly of no one in particular. "First I have to fix the forest for that Fiona lady, and now this? Well, Robo doesn't need this! Robo will start his own Real World (tm)."  
  
Then he stopped and blinked...or at least, performed the robot equivalent thereof.  
  
"Where have I heard that before?" he mused.  
  
  
  
  
  
End Notes: [Sigh] Okay, it may not seem like it, but we really are drawing closer to the main plot. I swear, Cedric has only got one more chapter to be around before I send him to that big highway in the sky. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Never Send an Idiot to Do a Woman's Job  
  
Notes: Thanks to everyone who's stuck around thus far. [Big hugs to all] Well, the unthinkable has happened, and Rhianwen has got on with the originally intended plot. [Dies of shock]  
  
Anyway, enjoy.  
  
  
  
And now, oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon with the chapter!!!  
  
  
  
  
  
"Oh, maaaaaaaaan," Cedric groaned, rolling around on the soft layer of leaves covering the dirt of the clearing where the group had chosen to set up camp, holding his head in agony, lest it explode. At least if he held it as it exploded, he'd have all the pieces in his hands. "You guys really know how to throw a party! I don't know what was in that drink, but DAMN!"  
  
"Think we should tell him that all he drank was water?" Lucca murmured aside to Crono and Marle, who were curled up together on a nearby log, making a reasonably filling meal out of chunks of dry bread and strips of dried meat.  
  
Marle giggled as Crono shook his head and replied noncommittally,  
  
"Naw, let him have his fun."  
  
"Right. So, I'm gonna go start on the Epoch now," the young mechanic informed the swordsman, climbing to her feet and brushing the bits of dirt and moss from the front of her orange smock.  
  
"That's your cue, Kaughnee," Magus informed the man from the log across the clearing where he sat with the same air of importance that he might have maintained if occupying a fine and valuable piece of antique furniture. "You're being paid to help her."  
  
"No, I'm not," Cedric muttered darkly, folding his arms and scowling at the world at large.  
  
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Magus inquired smoothly. "I missed that, and I think Crono might have, as well."  
  
"Nothing," the highwayman assured him, an artificial smile plastered on his face.  
  
Magus nodded in satisfaction.  
  
"As I thought."  
  
"What do you think that was all about?" Crono muttered to Lucca as Cedric stormed off.  
  
"Sometimes, Crono, it's just better not to ask," Lucca informed him with a sigh, trudging from the clearing after Cedric. 'Oh, this is going to SUCK!' she lamented silently.  
  
  
  
  
  
Six hours later, Lucca's prognostication still had yet to be disproved. It was rapidly becoming clear to all that Cedric had, indeed, been full of the proverbial Blarney when he claimed to be a 'mechanical whiz-kid.' Indeed, such a statement was an insult to mechanics, whizzes, and kids everywhere.  
  
In addition to knowing next to nothing about how to operate anything more mechanically involved than a toothbrush, it became quickly apparent that Cedric had the charming quality of being exceptionally lazy, as well. He was good-natured enough once he got over his bitterness at being made to move, and would do almost anything asked of him, but nothing without being asked, even when it was obvious at a glance that his assistance was needed.  
  
After discovering this last facet of Cedric's personality the hard way after having the left wing fall off and land on her while trying to hold it in place and weld it back on simultaneously, Lucca announced, angrily swiping at the blood trickling from a large gash at the back of her head down over the back of her neck, that they needed a break.  
  
It was at about this point that Crono decided that he would lend a hand with, at least, tasks that required more muscle than Lucca was blessed with, and than Cedric seemed willing to contribute. And so, once Marle had helped Lucca clean and heal the cut in her head, and wash as much of the blood as they could from her hair, the scientist took Crono up on his offer for help most gratefully. After that, the afternoon went a wee bit faster - although not much, as Cedric took this opportunity to make himself useful by climbing to a tree bough some four feet from the ground and, from this vantage point, calling out such helpful tips as 'Hey, look out!' and 'You're gonna wanna go THAT way...no, not THAT way, THAT way!' and 'Careful...careful...don't drop - DON'T DROP IT, GUYS!!!' and the like.  
  
  
  
However, 'though the day seem ever so long, at last it weareth to evening's song,' and even that most horrific of days found its end eventually.  
  
  
  
  
  
Lucca collapsed to the ground against one of the trees bordering the clearing, and expelled a weary sigh.  
  
"Thank whatever higher powers are looking down and laughing at me right now that THAT'S over with! I don't think I've ever had such a disastrous day's work before!"  
  
She fingered the scar across the back of her head, thanking those wacky ol' powers that be that more than one of their merry little group was a proper healer. Then, glaring up at the sky, she set enthusiastically about cursing those same powers that be, not for the first time that day, that they had been so unfortunate as to ever learn of the existence of such a person as Cedric Kaughnee. Certainly, necessary repairs could have been made with much less trouble had they never met the man.  
  
'I swear, that man could get confused trying to open a door! Door...'  
  
"Aw, geez," she murmured. "I forgot to...hey, Cedric!" she called as the man wandered into her line of vision.  
  
He stopped and turned, curious. Since he had neglected to offer his assistance to Lucca with that wing, from which had come the result of her losing her hold on it while trying to weld it in place with her other hand, none of the rest of the party had spoken to him unless it was strictly necessary. To be sure, he hadn't minded. The more of a pest he made of himself, the more likely it was that Magus should just order him in disgust far away from the rest of them. This seemed particularly likely, now that harm had come to the little purple-haired girl. As much as both seemed to deny it, Cedric had his doubts about the 'animosity,' or even the 'indifference' between the two. The pointy-eared...guy had certainly been angry enough with him over the child's injury...  
  
Giving his head a shake to clear it, he replied to her call.  
  
"...Yes?"  
  
"How'd you like to make yourself useful?"  
  
  
  
Mere moments later, Cedric stalked angrily from the clearing, turning slightly to squeeze between two massive poplars.  
  
"What am I, a damn servant? Why the hell do I have to get back up and go do the girl's stupid little odd-jobs?"  
  
At this point, a mental image of a rather exaggeratedly menacing-looking Magus, shooting him an overblown death-glare, floated through his mind, doubtlessly finding the space uncomfortably cramped.  
  
"Oh, right; that's why."  
  
Then he pouted again.  
  
"'Just go do it,' she says. 'It's a simple request,' she says. Well, if it's so bloody simple, why doesn't she do it her damn self?" Cedric demanded of no one in particular as he picked up a pair of pliers and set about peering into the open hatch at the back of the Epoch and the mess of wires tangled randomly inside...or so it appeared to him. "How the hell am I supposed to know what's what in here, anyway?" he groused, conveniently forgetting that he had earlier claimed to be the greatest mechanic of those parts. "Well, how much difference can it make what I attach to what? They're just little bits of tangled-up metal. What could go wrong?"  
  
As he spoke these last words, the skies should have grown dark and ominous, a sword of lightning arcing across the sky, splitting the heavens in twain. A deep rumble of thunder should have shaken the very foundations of the planet. Cedric himself should have stopped and murmured a quick prayer for the salvation of himself and his soul.  
  
Instead, though, the weather remained quite stubbornly cheerful, and Cedric continued on with his cheap excuse for work in blissful ignorance of what was about to happen. What happened was, the instant he touched his randomly- chosen blue wire against his randomly-chosen red wire, that bolt of lightning that had earlier failed to arc across the sky, splitting the heavens in twain, arced instead through Cedric's body, splitting, he could have sworn, his poor abused self in twain. With a startled yelp, Cedric flew back from the Epoch, completely against his will, and right off the edge of the cliff, bouncing over the rocks into the valley below.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Oh..." Marle began slowly from the log from which she had observed all of this, quite at a loss. "He...fell."  
  
"Uhm...yeah," Lucca agreed uncomfortably, turning back toward the log, now that going to save Cedric from his own stupidity was a non-issue. After all, she wasn't sure if she was expected to mourn for the man or not. True, he had been under her supervision when this had happened, but she really couldn't understand how the simple act of closing the hatch back up should have led to something like this.  
  
She altered her course, walked to the edge of the cliff and peered down, joined by Marle, and after a moment, she asked hesitantly,  
  
"Think there's any point in going down there to look for him?"  
  
"Only if we want to give his little tiny pieces a decent burial," Marle replied sadly.  
  
Then, as one, the girls shrugged and turned away from the cliff. Watching this exchange, Magus was no longer able to hide his shock at what had just transpired.  
  
"You two are heartless!" he exclaimed, completely unaware and unappreciative of the great irony in this statement.  
  
"Who heartless?" a cheerful voice called out. The next moment, Ayla jogged over to the small group.  
  
"Uhm, Ayla, could you do us a favour and go let Crono know that Cedric has had a bit of an accident?" Marle requested. Ayla's brow wrinkled.  
  
"Cedric...he stupid girly-man?"  
  
"Yes," Lucca replied, smothering a laugh. "Yes, he is."  
  
"Have a little respect for the dead!" Magus expostulated as the cave-woman ran off. "It's only been forty seconds!"  
  
"How long is it proper to wait before making fun of him?" Marle wondered.  
  
"I think we've waited long enough now."  
  
Lucca raised an eyebrow beneath her helmet.  
  
"Ah. So, forty-five seconds is appropriate?"  
  
"Quite appropriate," Magus replied.  
  
"Hey, what's this about Cedric having an accident?" Crono demanded, pushing between two leafy boughs and starting forward.  
  
"He fell," Marle informed her boyfriend solemnly, pointing toward the cliff.  
  
"Oh, he didn't!" Crono groaned, leaning back against a tree, his eyes sliding shut in despair.  
  
"He did," Lucca argued, just as solemnly.  
  
For a time, Crono waved his arms about, gibbering incoherently. Then, with one final mighty wave of the arms, he recovered his powers of speech.  
  
"But...HOW?!"  
  
"Well," Lucca began thoughtfully, "I asked him to close the hatch to the circuit board of the Epoch, and the next moment, he flew back and right off the cliff.  
  
"Oh." Crono blinked. "Really?"  
  
Both girls and the wizard nodded. Crono shrugged.  
  
"Hey, shit happens," he quoted nonchalantly. "So, should we go find the rest of the group and make plans for tomorrow?"  
  
"You three go ahead without me," Lucca sighed, her happy little daydream of finally sitting down and resting for a while bursting before her eyes. "I'm gonna take a look at the Epoch, see if Cedric wrecked anything."  
  
Crono nodded.  
  
"Well, if you're sure..."  
  
"Oh, yeah, I'm sure."  
  
"Okay. Good luck," the swordsman called as he turned to leave the clearing, followed closely by Marle.  
  
"Great," Magus commented. "I suppose that leaves me to stick around and make sure you don't pass out and cut your head open again."  
  
"Yeah, great," Lucca sighed as she donned her protective gear and picked up a pair of pliers that had NOT flown off the cliff with Cedric.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Oh, man, I forgot. Someone should probably go help Lucca," Crono noted. "Marle, you wanna go look for everyone else while I do that?"  
  
"...Didn't Magus go with her?"  
  
"I doubt it!" Crono laughed. "Help out someone willingly? Are we thinking of the same Magus?"  
  
"Yeah," Marle agreed with a giggle. "No matter how weird those two have been acting, there are some things that just couldn't happen."  
  
"That's what I thought. So, you're gonna go find everyone else and get them assembled? Lucca and I'll join you when we're done."  
  
"Okay! Bye!" Marle chirped, skipping off with a quick wave.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Dammit, could you try to hurry it up a little bit?" Magus expostulated, rolling his eyes impatiently. Raising her head from her work, Lucca wiped a drop of perspiration from her nose and scowled at him.  
  
"I could," she began slowly, "if someone would give me a hand over here. It's a little hard to clip the solder, apply the solder, AND melt the solder with the iron, ALL while trying to hold the wires in place!"  
  
"You're the one who sent your helper to an early grave," he reminded her.  
  
"No, he handled that quite well himself," Lucca informed Magus with a heavy sigh.  
  
"You should have known better than to ask him to go near those wires in there," Magus insisted, gesturing to the circuit board, a veritable collage of wires in every colour, length, and width.  
  
"Magus, I asked him to close the hatch because we were done for the day! He didn't even have to touch the stuff inside!" she exclaimed. "That's why I'm in here now: to clean up the mess he made!"  
  
Magus blinked.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well, what now?"  
  
"Now, you all leave me alone while I get everything straightened out in here."  
  
"Weren't you just bemoaning the fact that you had no one to help you?"  
  
"Well, yeah, but I don't really-"  
  
"What do you need me to do?"  
  
This stunned Lucca into silence, and Magus reflected smugly that he should have thought of it before.  
  
"You...you want to help me?" the young mechanic finally choked out.  
  
"'Want to' is rather the wrong way of looking at it. It seems the only solution. I wouldn't trust any of the others not to meet the same fate as that idiot Kaugnee did if they tried."  
  
"Um...well, alright. I appreciate it. Could you...here. Hold this wire against this one. If you can, try to twist them together."  
  
To do her justice, as she issued instructions, Lucca was busily gathering together solder, iron, and clippers. Then she scrambled up onto the top of the Epoch and leaned down, until she was hanging upside down in front of the hatch, just above Magus's head.  
  
"You're going to fall," he predicted calmly.  
  
"No, I'm not," she replied, offended. "I've done this before!"  
  
"Do you mean the time that Crono had to drag you over to Marle to be healed because you landed on your head falling off of the Epoch?"  
  
"One incident, Magus. One incident."  
  
"I'm sure you'll find a way to make it more," he assured her. "Just try to make sure that you don't land on me when you do."  
  
"I don't think you'll have to worry about that," she informed him dryly. "Now, have you got the wires together? I can't see very well."  
  
"That's because your vision is blocked by hair," Magus suggested mildly, swatting away a lock of deep purple currently brushing about his nose.  
  
"I can't really help that," she shot back, the statement punctuated by a crash as her helmet slid off of her head and bounced to the ground. "...Great."  
  
"You couldn't help that, either, apparently."  
  
"...Are you still holding the wires together?"  
  
"I think I dropped them."  
  
"Well, pick them back up!"  
  
"I can't find them! Your hair is in my face!"  
  
"Sorry! I'm trying to move, but there's not a lot of place to go from here."  
  
"Aside from down."  
  
"Once! I did that once! Let a girl live something down, okay? Geez!"  
  
"Fine," Magus grumbled, his nose beginning to twitch from the strands of purple tickling it. "You might want to move very, very quickly. I think I'm going to sneeze."  
  
"Oh, yuck!" Lucca exclaimed, hauling herself back up onto the top of the Epoch, her foot striking a lever, quite unbeknownst to her or to Magus. Then she watched him expectantly and waited for him to hurry up and sneeze so they could get back to work. And she waited. And waited.  
  
"False alarm," he smirked, rubbing his nose and then twisting the wires back together. With a roll of her eyes, Lucca flopped back down over the open hatch and picked up her solder and iron.  
  
"Your hair's back in my face," Magus informed her, irritated.  
  
"Well, I can't really do anything about it now, can I?" she pointed out huffily, vainly trying to melt the bit of solder over connection of the two wires. With a sigh, Magus swept her hair aside and out of the line of vision of both, decidedly ignoring the pleasant softness and fragrance of it.  
  
"Hey, what are you guys doing?" a voice inquired from behind them. Startled out of the reverie that intense concentration always sent her deeply into, Lucca gave an incautious hop of surprise, lost balance, and fell forward, slightly inward, and right into the circuit board. Magus, acting on instinct, caught her around the torso. However, although he meant to pull her away from the ship and safely to the ground, he succeeded only in pushing her more forcefully into the mass of wires inside the hatch.  
  
This mass of wires, deciding that between Cedric's sad attempt at competence and all the profanities that Lucca had hurled at it over the course of trying to fix said sad attempt at competence, it had had quite enough abuse, issued a bolt of a strange, reddish light through both the young scientist, who, by now, was beginning to believe that she really had been born under an unlucky star, and through the sorcerer, who, by now, was also beginning to believe that the young scientist had been born under an unlucky star.  
  
"Whoa!" Crono, also the source of the voice from behind them, exclaimed as the light began to grow more intense, and the outlines of his friends began to grow faint. He leapt forward and groped vainly for an arm, a cape, anything that might aid him in dragging them out of this increasingly dangerous situation, but in vain. All at once, the light seemed to expend all its energy in one final burst, filling the clearing with a blinding flash of red, throwing Crono backward into a tree trunk.  
  
As the light faded, he sat up shakily, pressing a hand to his head. Then, remembering that he had not been the only one to experience what had just happened, he scrambled frantically to his feet and bolted towards the Epoch.  
  
"Oh, hell..." he breathed as his gaze lit on the patch of scorched grass beneath the vehicle where, he could have sworn, his friends had fallen.  
  
Neither Magus nor Lucca was anywhere to be seen.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Ow." Lucca intoned sadly, peeling herself off of the rough, sandy rock upon which she had just been dropped. Once standing, she peered searchingly about her...and her heart nearly leapt straight out of her chest at the observation that gone was the Epoch, as well as the forest, and the clearing in which the party had been camped. Instead, they seemed to be in a cave, if the closed-in rock walls and dim light that managed to stream in through a semi-circular opening some ten feet away, were any indication. When her gaze lighted on a familiar cloaked form lying next to her against the wall, his blue hair spilling over the dusty rock, the panic beginning to rise within her was somewhat quelled. After all, this situation might prove to be bad enough; to be in it alone was an unthinkable idea. Kneeling down, she shook his shoulder lightly. "Magus?"  
  
The prone shape emitted an unearthly groan.  
  
"You sure wake up in a bad mood," Lucca noted with a tiny grin.  
  
At this, Magus rolled painfully onto his back and glared up at her.  
  
"Oh, so you're here, too."  
  
"Yeah," she agreed. Then she blinked. "Should we go outside and take a look around?"  
  
"Why not?" he sighed, climbing to his feet and shaking the dust out of his cape.  
  
Together they walked from the cave, moving cautiously lest some creature native to the area attack without warning. When they reached the mouth, they slipped out, each raising an arm to shield their eyes from the blinding sun of midday.  
  
Once her eyes had adjusted from darkness to extreme light, Lucca gazed about her, quite fascinated. They were on a mountainside, on a flat cliff of about twenty feet in diameter, fringed by thickly-growing pine and fir trees and waist-high shrubberies, with much narrower paths leading away from it and through the trees on either side, the one to the left spiralling down the mountain and the one to the right spiralling up. From the look of it, they weren't that high off the ground; from where they were, it was a thirty-foot drop at most. Certainly not impossible to climb, but dangerous if not treated with caution; it might be best, Lucca decided, not to rely too heavily on the path. After all, who knew where it would lead?  
  
Walking slowly to the edge of the cliff and peering out over the mountain, she raised an eyebrow in surprise at the valley below. She had seldom seen a landscape so utterly untouched by man. No cottage or town was to be seen. The valley, to her eye, was carpeted in grass of a brilliant green, and she thought she spotted the glint of water in amongst a copse of birch trees, from which meandered a narrow stream across the valley and into a crevice between the mountains on the other side.  
  
The weather, she noted instantly, was mild. A little uncomfortably warm, but nothing to complain about, overall. Certainly better than very incapacitatingly cold. Thank goodness they'd the good fortune to be stranded somewhere, if they had to be anywhere, in a climate currently experiencing their warm season.  
  
"Where...where are we?" she finally piped up timidly, turning to peer anxiously at her companion.  
  
"How in the hell should I know?" Magus demanded, pushing off of the stony wall of the cave's exterior and striding over to the cliff where she stood.  
  
"So...we could very well be stuck here-"  
  
"'Could very well?' Look, I know you aren't prone to panic, so I'm not going to take pains keeping your emotional state placid. We ARE stuck here. We were sent by the Epoch, to this very spot, but there is no gate anywhere near, nor is there any other means to leave that I can see."  
  
"Right, right. So, we ARE stuck here, but neither of us has any idea where 'here' is?"  
  
"Essentially."  
  
"That's bad."  
  
"Wonderful," Magus sighed. "Any more brilliant observations I should hear, four-eyes?"  
  
"Well," she began thoughtfully, her cheeks growing an angry crimson at his words, certainly not the most tactful or appropriate in a time of stress, "you're a real ass, but I suppose you meant things that the entire world didn't already know."  
  
"Shut up," he barked, seizing her by the shoulder and giving her a violent shake, which dislodged her glasses enough to send them bouncing to the ground and skittering off in some direction.  
  
"Hey, cut it out!" she protested, groping frantically for the precious article. "I have no way to fix those here!"  
  
He raised an eyebrow as he noticed a small object lying next to his foot, glinting in the strong sun. A pair of round, thickly rimmed spectacles. He stooped to pick them up, conveniently failing to mention to her that he had found them. However, when he noticed that her frenzied searching was taking her ever closer to the edge of the cliff, and that this seemed to escape her utterly, he decided that it was time to intervene. He placed a hand firmly on her shoulder and pulled her to her feet, leading her back to the mouth of the cave.  
  
"Oh, shit!" she exploded, her voice breaking as she collapsed against the exterior wall of the cave, trembling slightly. "Where in buggery could they be?"  
  
"I can't see them," he informed her smoothly. Well, true enough - he had slipped them into a pocket sewn into the inside of his cape.  
  
Lucca fixed the Magus-shaped haze looming above her with a horrified stare.  
  
"Are you serious? Oh, hell! I knew nothing good would come of waking up this morning!"  
  
Leaning forward slightly, she wrapped her arms tightly around her knees, which were drawn up to her chest. She'd gone quite unnaturally pale, and Magus noted with no small amount of surprise that she was more shaken, and closer to tears, than he had ever seen her. Still, what was the point of letting her troubles upset him?  
  
"I don't quite see the tragedy here," he admitted boredly, absently pulling the glasses from his pocket and turning them over in his hand.  
  
"Then you're even stupider than Marle," she shot back, swiping angrily at a tear with the back of her hand, sniffling frantically to hold back the rest of them. "I'm blind without them! How would you like to be stuck somewhere that you'd never been before, with the gods only know how many varieties of big, scary monster out there, and not even be able to see the danger that you were in?!"  
  
"I suppose you have a point."  
  
"Of course I have a point! We have no idea what lives up here! If it's something big, I've got the choice of being devoured by it, or trying to run away and running right of the edge of the mountain!"  
  
"Yes, but you have magic to fall back on. And a weapon, for that matter."  
  
"Both of which require aim! And just so you know, I don't have my gun. It must have fallen out of my holster when we got transported here."  
  
"Hmph. Yes, I suppose you are in quite a mess," he chuckled to her inexpressible fury. "One more thing, though."  
  
"What?" she demanded dully, hugging her legs closer to her chest and resting her chin on her knees.  
  
He unfolded the glasses and slid them back onto her face. Her eyes widened in amazement and relief.  
  
"You found-"  
  
This was as far as she got before his smirk gave away more than he should have.  
  
"Bastard!" she shrieked, hurling herself at him. "You had them all along, you creep!"  
  
"Yes, I did," he agreed, stopping her flying fists by taking them in his hands. "Now, calm down before you really do break them."  
  
With that, he turned abruptly and started toward the path to the left.  
  
"Where are you going?" she called after him.  
  
He snorted derisively, carefully looking away.  
  
"That is no longer any of your concern. From here on out, I walk alone. We are no longer 'in this together.'"  
  
She stared at him incredulously.  
  
"What is it?" he demanded, annoyed. "I haven't left you defenceless and sightless, as was my first inclination. Be grateful for that, Pyro."  
  
With these parting words, he disappeared into the trees and was gone.  
  
Lucca blinked several times, rather stunned. Well. So he had left. What of it? She could take care of herself.  
  
'I'm probably safer without him around to do things like steal my glasses, and now I won't have to worry about him 'forgetting his ridiculous conscience, as well as the fact that we are allies.''  
  
So, why was she unable to entirely quell the feeling that a hand of pure ice was gently brushing itself over her insides, leaving her feeling sick and cold and isolated?  
  
She sighed, climbing to her feet and walking back into the cave. She glanced about, summing up the space they had to work with. About seven feet deep, close to that high, and five feet wide. Reasonably sheltered from the wind, as the mouth was fairly small, which also made it exceptionally dark, but what would that matter at night, when it would be anyway? She ignored the voice at the back of her mind that whispered teasingly that she would likely need light even more at night, and could hardly afford to give up what little might have made it into the cave from the moon.  
  
On the whole, the cave would do well enough to sleep in...if Mr. Lone Wolf didn't turn back up and decide to kick her out.  
  
Then, as the idea occurred to her that she should go about finding food, and had just climbed to her feet, and angry bellow reached her ears. She froze. It sounded like Magus, to be sure, but one could never be too careful. Moments later, another angry bellow sounded, from much closer. And then the same voice called for her.  
  
"Lucca! Where in the hell are you?"  
  
"I'm in the cave," she called back, quite startled.  
  
An irritated grumble, followed by the sound of footsteps. The next moment, the little light that had been able to stream into the cave was quite blocked out by the figure of a very angry Magus standing in front of the crevice in the rock walls.  
  
"What in the hell were you thinking, wandering off like that?!"  
  
"I just went back into the cave!" she protested, astonished by the unidentifiable emotion that tempered the anger in his tone. It sounded oddly like...relief?  
  
"We haven't explored it yet. Would you really want to discover the hard way that you were trespassing upon the home of several sleepy cave lions?"  
  
"Er, no..."  
  
"Then come outside."  
  
  
  
"Is something wrong?" she asked him mildly, blinking to clear the spots in front of her eyes. There were, she decided, only so many times a person could go from extreme dark to extreme light, with no middle ground, without going functionally blind.  
  
From a few steps ahead, he stopped, turned, and glared coldly at her.  
  
"Magic doesn't work here."  
  
"What?! Why?"  
  
"Again I say, how in the hell should I know? My guess is some sort of barrier over the area."  
  
"Great," she muttered, pulling off her glasses and rubbing her eyes wearily. "So, does the fact that you're back here mean that you don't 'walk alone' anymore?"  
  
"Shut up and go start a fire," he snapped. "I've left a pile of kindling over there." He indicated the back right corner of the ledge.  
  
"But you just finished saying that magic doesn't work here!"  
  
"Use your glasses, chit."  
  
"...Why not just find some flint-rock?"  
  
"If you come across some, use it. It doesn't matter to me how you do it, just go start a damn fire!"  
  
"Oh, alright," she grumbled, starting toward the pile. "Would you like me to roast you an ox while I'm at it, Your Lone-Wolf-ship?" she muttered under her breath. Then she stopped and turned. "You never answered my question, though. Are we back 'in this together?'"  
  
"If I were to go to the trouble of looking for flint-rock, building a fire, and building enough of a shelter to keep out any wild animals that might decide to visit during the night, on my own, I'd have no time to hunt for food."  
  
"Unless you gathered berries and junk," she countered, hiding a smile at what she knew would be his reaction to this idea.  
  
"I'm no damn herbivore," he informed her stonily. "Now, are you going to go start that fire, or do you need encouragement?"  
  
He shook his scythe menacingly at her, both thanking their lucky stars that it had not gone the same way as Lucca's gun.  
  
Her relief was less than his, however, in light the glare that he was issuing in her direction.  
  
"Fine, fine, I'm going," she sighed, turning to start down the path down the mountain.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
End Notes: Wow...I've turned Magus really protective in this chapter. How did that happen? Ah, well, it's fun to write, if not strictly in character.  
  
At least I am comfortably sure that I have not turned Cedric into a Mary- Sue (or Marty-sue, as it were). I'd always intended for him to fall ignominiously to an undignified death. There was no way he was going to live and go on to glory by defeating Lavos single-handedly while earning the respect, admiration, and fear of the other characters. After all, I'm not that 'warped!' [Giggles insanely]  
  
Anyway, Bishounen Stalker (that's a great name, by the way!), to address you question, yes, the three little kids in Chapter 3 were a veiled reference to Freya, Amarant, and Vivi, of Final Fantasy 9 fame. Good eye! I honestly didn't expect anyone to catch that, or to care if they did. It's nice to know that my little inside joke didn't go unappreciated. [Big grin] Now I'm only regretting that I didn't make a young Kuja inform everyone that he was going to cast Ultima on his commemorative statuette...or dress it in a thong. [Gah! Scary mental image!]  
  
Thanks again to everyone else who reviewed!  
  
[Hands everyone a Slurpee and bounces away] 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - Making Adjustments  
  
  
  
Magus sighed, drawing closer to the flickering warmth of the fire, which Lucca had contrived to start by some means beyond his comprehension. Or his interest. One of the two. The sun had begun to set some time ago, and the previous warmth had all but vanished, leaving a decided chill in the air. It would be best not to have to sleep out in the open unless strictly necessary, he decided, pulling his cape more tightly around him.  
  
"You know what puzzles me?" Lucca began suddenly, turning her fierce concentration momentarily from the cooking of the small partridge, making a mental note to return her concentration to it before it burned to a crisp, as food always had a ghastly tendency to do when around her.  
  
Magus lifted an eyebrow, shoving her out of the way and taking over the task of cooking. No way he was going to try to choke down a lump of charcoal when such a thing could be just as easily avoided.  
  
"Which end of the shoe is front?" he inquired smoothly.  
  
She rolled her eyes, the gesture much easier to see without her helmet, which she had earlier taken off and stored in a small empty space between two of the trees lining the ledge.  
  
"No! Doesn't it seem a little weird to you that Crono or some of the others haven't come for us yet?"  
  
"Unfortunate, definitely, but not at all unexpected," he replied with a heavy sigh. He had assumed that she'd leapt to the same conclusion he had. Now, he only hoped that his conclusion wouldn't send her into hysterics. To be sure, he had been truthful earlier when he had said that she didn't seem to him the hysterical type - a good thing, because the last thing he needed was to deal with a hysterical girl clinging helplessly to him right now. Absolutely the last, he repeated sternly to himself, commanding the part of his mind that had sat up and taken notice at the idea of her lithe, slender body pressed tightly against him, to shut the hell up.  
  
"Do you remember what you were doing right before whatever it was that brought us here, brought us here?"  
  
"Repairing the Ep-oh. Gotcha."  
  
"Exactly. Even if they had any way of knowing what had happened to us, you're the only one in the immediate area who can fix the damn thing."  
  
"Right. It's good to be useful for something," she jested weakly, her smile vanishing almost as quickly as it came as she pulled her knees to her chest and gazed pensively into the fire. But, to her credit, although she'd gone a bit paler than he was strictly comfortable with seeing her, she did not go into hysterics.  
  
He tore his gaze resolutely from her and checked on the partridge. Deciding that the bird was as done as he was going to get it without turning it into the Mythical Flaming Turkey of Yore, he grasped the end of the stick on which they had finally, after much difficulty and many bellowed profanities, managed to skewer it without also skewering themselves, and lifted it from the fire. From here, he plunked it onto the makeshift plate that a slab of wood served the purpose of fairly well, and pulled the stick from the bird, dividing it into as equal of rations as he could with the crude tool.  
  
"Take what you want," he commanded coolly. "What we don't use tonight, we'll finish tomorrow morning, if we can find a place to keep it."  
  
"We could tie it up in something and hang it from one of these trees," Lucca suggested, only half-seriously. Magus looked thoughtful for a moment.  
  
"It could work, but do we have anything to tie it up in?"  
  
"We could use your cape," she suggested with a snicker. He scowled at her and shook his head. "Or, y'know, we could not," she finished with another snicker.  
  
He rolled his eyes, an odd sense of relief to see that some of her colour had returned and the expression of tight worry had left her face taking the edge off of his annoyance. Then, as a possible course of action occurred to him, he gazed thoughtfully at her for a moment.  
  
"Uh...what?" she demanded, disconcerted by this scrutiny.  
  
"Give me that orange thing you're wearing."  
  
"This?" She held up the hem of her smock.  
  
"Yes, that."  
  
"...Can I ask why?"  
  
"We need something to keep our food in, right?"  
  
"Hey, why do we have to destroy my belongings?"  
  
"Destroy?" he repeated, amused, eyeing the grease-splattered, burn-marked garment, which had, indeed, seen better days. "I doubt anything could harm THAT thing."  
  
"Oh, fine," she huffed, tugging it up and over her head.  
  
"Just the orange thing, please," he requested, averting his eyes quickly as an expanse of firm, creamy white stomach was inadvertently revealed.  
  
"What...? Oh! Geez!" she exclaimed, carefully separating the two layers of fabric, tugging her loose green tunic back down and then dragging the orange smock the rest of the way over her head. Then, eyes downcast and cheeks a fiery red, she tossed the smock to him.  
  
"Wonderful," he commented dryly, rising to hang it carefully over a tree branch. "Now that we have that decided, come eat something. We want to finish with this and decide where we're going to sleep before it gets much darker."  
  
"What's wrong with the cave?" she asked, picking a piece of meat from the pile.  
  
"Aside from the possibility of its being the home of the-gods-only-know- what, nothing at all," he replied sardonically. "I'd prefer to explore it in broad daylight before taking our chances sleeping in it at night."  
  
"Ah. Gotcha," she announced with a nod.  
  
This was the last word on the subject for a time as both turned their attention enthusiastically to the partridge.  
  
"Y'know," Lucca finally spoke up, "this situation bloody sucks and all, but you've got to admit, it's nice to eat something other than Jerky for the first time in...weeks?"  
  
"Months, it feels like," he replied with a chuckle.  
  
"But how long do you think it'll be before we're saying the same thing about this stuff?"  
  
"I doubt we will. I certainly hope we won't be trapped here long enough to grow as tired of it as I am of Jerky. Now, go throw those bones somewhere where the animals can find them without finding us."  
  
"Kind of a silly thing to worry about when we're hanging the leftovers from a tree," she commented, nevertheless rising and sweeping the bones onto a wide, flat leaf.  
  
"All the motor oil on that orange dress of yours might mask the smell of the food, and actually repel them," he called after her, sliding the remainder of their food into the smock and tying it into a bundle.  
  
"Just remember, we have to eat off of that 'orange dress of mine,'" she tossed back over her shoulder as she started onto the path up the mountain.  
  
"Yes, I've got my own doubts about that," he murmured, and then, as an afterthought, shouted after her, "hurry back! And try not to go far!"  
  
"Yes, dad!" came the sarcastic reply.  
  
For the longest time, Magus could not decide what it was about this that bothered him.  
  
  
  
Lucca breathed deeply, revelling in the scent of the chill evening air, the scents of ferns, mosses, and the indefinable scent of the mountains as a flood of memories washed over her. She'd loved the mountains, ever since she was a child. They were so...unfinished. Wild. Untamed. No one could learn their secrets without spending years with them, and even then, one could never be sure. They could still surprise you.  
  
When she was younger, her father had often taken her to the mountains to hike. Their 'Nature Adventures,' he had laughingly called them.  
  
'Well, now I'm on the 'nature adventure' of a lifetime,' she reflected with a smirk. Then she sighed. Certainly, there was some sense of novelty, of adventure, about this whole situation, but with that adventure came a far less pleasant uncertainty. Although for now they would be safe enough, even reasonably comfortable, who knew how long they might be forced to fend for themselves? What if there were hostile animals in the area? What if there were hostile people? What if the weather took a turn for the worse? What if one of them became injured? Or got sick? What if...  
  
What if no one ever came for them?  
  
Shoving all such thoughts resolutely from her mind, Lucca carefully hid the leaf and the bones amid the thickly growing weeds and shrubs, making her mind up to calm down and enjoy this walk. She definitely couldn't go back to their impromptu camp until she was in a less troubled state of mind. Already, she had become determined not to show any sign to Magus that she was anything other than perfectly content and peaceful of mind. As far as he knew, she would be every bit as light-hearted and happy as Marle ever was. No, she amended almost immediately after, that would likely only annoy him. Very well, then. She would avoid speaking of their situation unless he spoke of it first. And then, she would do so calmly, showing him that she had every idea of their predicament, but that she was dealing with it as best she could.  
  
After all, she didn't want to have to put up with his snide remarks about her cowardice, and she especially didn't want him to have any further stress placed upon him. She had known intuitively, ever since earlier that evening when he had explained to her why it was unlikely that anyone would come for them for quite a long time, that he had thought much more carefully about their predicament than she had, and was trying to keep the worst of it from her.  
  
She straightened up resolutely and continued up the mountain path, keeping a careful eye out for any sudden movements amid the plant-life. From here, she proceeded to completely and utterly lose track of time. She had been walking about twenty minutes by her estimation - in reality, closer to an hour - when the sound of footsteps quickly approaching reached her ears. Stopping abruptly, she turned, praying that it would be Magus, and not...someone else, whoever might be found out here. As her eyes met his, though, and the anger in them became apparent, she began to think that she might have been better off with the mysterious 'someone else.'  
  
"Uh...what's wrong?" she choked out, knowing that to ask 'is something wrong?' would be superfluous. For a moment, he didn't speak, seeming to struggle internally. When he did speak, there was not trace of anger in his tone, simply tiredness.  
  
"Where have you been?"  
  
"Just...around here," she assured him.  
  
He stepped forward, his stride longer than hers, closing the gap between them.  
  
"Didn't I ask you not to wander off?"  
  
"I didn't think this was wandering off. What's so bad about a little walk?"  
  
"After dark? Alone? On a mountain path that you've never seen before? At the pace you keep...oh, damn..."  
  
She stared at him as he trailed off into the soft curse, his eyes glued to something beyond her.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Look at those tracks."  
  
She whirled about and peered in the direction he indicated. A large paw mark. Certainly not something she would have been glad to meet alone.  
  
"Wh-what's that from, do you think?"  
  
"My best guess is the mountain lions I spoke of earlier."  
  
"Does that mean they're living in that cave we found?!"  
  
"Shh! And no, I doubt it. Now that I think about it, I don't think they tend to live that low."  
  
"Well, that's something, at least."  
  
"Quiet!" he hissed at her, grabbing her arm roughly and pulling her down the path, back toward the ledge where they had landed.  
  
He spoke no other word to her on the way down the mountain, toward the flickering light of their campfire. When they reached the ledge, though, his restraint vanished.  
  
"Are you a complete and utter idiot?" he demanded, pacing back and forth before the fire as she slowly, as though fearing that moving too quickly might set off a retaliation, sat down, close enough to be enveloped by a wave of warmth.  
  
"Of course not," she replied quietly. " I was only going for a walk."  
  
"Which I told you, more than once, not to do!"  
  
"No," she snapped, "you told me not to go into the cave! And you told me not to take too long or go to far up the path."  
  
"Exactly!"  
  
"I was only gone for a couple minutes!"  
  
"An hour! During which, you almost happened upon a group of mountain lions!"  
  
"I'm sorry! How was I supposed to know that there would be mountain lions around here?!"  
  
"We're in the mountains!" he shouted with an exasperated gesture. Then lowering his voice with an effort as his uncontrolled bellow echoed off of the rock face and into the valley below them, he continued. "I told you that there might be dangerous animals; I think I even brought up the possibility of mountain lions."  
  
"I...I didn't think," she muttered, a queasy feeling overcoming her at the thought that she, or worse, both of them, might have been hurt by her carelessness. Unable to look at him, she wrapped her arms around her knees and stared into the fire.  
  
As she sat there, the light from the fire flickering over her, glinting off the mass of purple hair hanging to her shoulders, reflecting in blue eyes covered with a light sheen of tears, curled up tightly, she looked quite unbelievingly small and lost and vulnerable. He sighed. By the gods, she was a child yet! Despite how hard she tried to cast aside all childlike tendencies before she should, they still remained. As they should. Of course she should be expected to do the occasional reckless thing! Rubbing his eyes wearily, he spoke.  
  
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted at you like that."  
  
"I'm not a little kid," she snapped. "I can take it."  
  
"Lucca, if we're to have any chance of getting out of this alive, we're going to have to trust each other, and rely on each other, a lot more than either of us has probably relied on anyone. Yes," he continued with a smirk, holding up a hand to stave off her inevitable comment, "despite what I said earlier about being on my own, it would have been only a matter of time before we found ourselves working together. Perhaps you aren't the only one who still has a little growing up to do."  
  
She blinked, astonishment that he would admit such a thing quite blotting from her mind offence that he had also applied it to her. He smiled grimly.  
  
"Shall we think about finding somewhere to sleep for tonight?"  
  
"I hate to say it, but we're just going to have to sleep out in the open," she replied, frowning. "There's no way we're getting a shelter built at this point. And I really think we should explore the cave tomorrow."  
  
"It isn't terribly likely that anything lives in there. After all, wouldn't it have approached earlier when we fell, screaming, from mid-air?"  
  
"That's what I thought."  
  
"So, do you want to chance the cave?"  
  
She pursed her lips, considering.  
  
"I think we might as well leave it for tomorrow. I mean, we've got the fire out here; we might as well use it."  
  
"No, we're going to put it out before we sleep."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because, unless one of us wants to sit up watching it all night, it simply isn't safe."  
  
"But we'll freeze without it!"  
  
"Would you rather freeze, or deal with the animals that leaving it lit would attract?"  
  
"Uh...right. I see your point."  
  
"Good. Now, shall we sleep in the cave, or out here?"  
  
"Let's just stay out here and explore the cave tomorrow morning some time, okay?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Alright. Now, get some sleep. I've a feeling we'll both need it for tomorrow."  
  
"Okay," she replied, curling up on the ground, head pillowed by her hands, facing away from the fire. He watched her for a brief moment before kicking a pile of dirt over the fire, effectively extinguishing it, and selecting a spot on the ground near enough to his impromptu survival buddy to keep an eye on her, but far enough away to maintain the personal space of both. He settled himself as comfortably as possible and closed his eyes. However, minutes passed, then hours, and still, sleep refused to come. Maybe if he could stop tensing up every time he heard a sound...what was that? Sitting bolt upright, he glanced about furtively, trying to pinpoint the source of the new sound. It sounded like a distinct...clacking sound. Some sort of bird native to the area hunting for insects? Feeding on nuts?  
  
But, wait, why did that sound seem so very familiar? Somewhat like a chattering of teeth...ah. He peered in Lucca's direction, his eyes long since accustomed to the darkness, and shook his head at the sight of the small girl huddled into a tiny ball, vainly trying to keep herself warm by hiding inside her shirt, turtle-like. With a sigh, he climbed to his feet, retrieved his cape from where it hung over the tree branch along with their bundle of food, crept across the empty space, and knelt next to her, covering her with it. Her posture relaxed as she warmed, and, much to his surprise and chagrin, her arms snaked out to wrap around his neck as he bent over her closely enough to straighten the edges of the fabric.  
  
'Oh...lovely...' he thought, rolling his eyes as he allowed himself to be pulled to the ground alongside her. "Well...it's one way to keep warm, at any rate."  
  
Taking a deep breath and forcing himself to relax, he folded one arm behind his head, and draped the other across her waist.  
  
In only a matter of moments, he was asleep, as peacefully as he had ever been.  
  
  
  
Upon waking the next morning almost as one to find themselves comfortably entwined, they pulled apart immediately, blushing. Once over this fit of embarrassment sufficiently to look one another in the eye, they made a sufficient meal off of what was left over of the partridge, hardly improved in flavour by hanging in a grease-stained dress overnight, but both were too hungry to care. After breakfast, they made their way down the mountain in search of the little pool of water they had seen from above. It remained hidden, but they happened instead upon the little river winding from it into the valley. They drank their fill from the pleasantly cool, clear water, made a mental note of where they were to later return, and set on back up the mountain.  
  
  
  
Once it had been determined that nothing lived in the cave, they had parted ways briefly, Magus to try to hunt something to eat later, and Lucca in search of something that might be useful in holding water, as well as somewhere where some variety of berries might be found. Before she had gone, he had warned her to be careful with such vehemence that she had once again bestowed him with a common parental epithet. This time, he enjoyed it even less than before, as this time, she had given him the title of 'Mom.'  
  
  
  
When he returned to the cave a few hours later, he found her seated near their bonfire, manufacturing a number of crude tools out of everything an anything she could find.  
  
"When did you learn to weave baskets?" he inquired, amused, stooping to pick up what appeared to be a large, vaguely bowl-shaped container woven out of long grasses.  
  
"My grandmother taught me," she replied with a shrug, completely missing the ironic tone of his question as she struggled to file a length of wood down to a sufficiently sharp point for cutting meat.  
  
"And...ah...who exactly taught her?"  
  
"Her grandmother, probably," she replied. He shook his head with a chuckle.  
  
"Ah, well, it'll serve its purpose, if it IS a little deformed."  
  
"Hey, I didn't make it to look nice, alright?" she protested, snatching her venture into the world of arts and crafts and holding it to her protectively. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to weave a completely watertight basket, appearance aside? The grass gets all wrinkled, and it starts to look like it's been sat on, unless you're really good at it. And I'm not."  
  
"Well, it's more than I could have done," he admitted graciously before holding out a pair of wild chickens. "These'll do for today's food, I suppose."  
  
"Oh! Probably tomorrow's, too," she replied, taking the birds and setting them carefully on a mat made by knotting together grasses similar to those she had used in the basket. "I found some berries, too, if we need anything extra."  
  
"You didn't bring any back?"  
  
"Well," she began with a sheepish smile, "I tried. I found these great blueberry bushes, and I picked a whole bunch. Unfortunately, I had nothing to put them in, so I used my shirt." She indicated the purple stains streaking down the front of her green tunic. "I guess that'd have been okay, too, but I slipped on my way back up the mountain, and the berries...kinda went all over."  
  
"Oh, good lord," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "You really are inept at the simple tasks of life, aren't you?"  
  
She shrugged nonchalantly, biting back a frown of hurt.  
  
"Yeah, well, one can't get all the blessings, right? I'm gonna make some more of these in a while. But first, I'm gonna go get some water. I'll be back soon."  
  
She stood, clutching her newly made basket tightly, and left.  
  
  
  
So went their first days of life in this strange, beautiful, untouched place. They fell gradually into a routine of waking early, one or the other preparing a meal, and then exploring the area, sometimes going further up the mountain, and more often going down into the valley. The valley was where they tended to spend the majority of their free time. It was a lovely place, carpeted thickly with brilliantly green grass, and sheltered from strong winds by the mountainsides, which enclosed it, held it like a treasure.  
  
Early on in the day, it became quite warm, and so when they visited the valley, they mainly kept to the shade cast by some of the massive poplars or redwoods that grew thickly around the edges.  
  
Most days, they simply sat together in a comfortable, companionable silence, enjoying the time of leisure, each lost in their own faults. Some days, though, they would talk. And, on most of these days, it was Lucca that did the majority of the talking, about various projects left unfinished at home, memories of 'nature adventures' with 'Dad,' or recollections of a childhood spent isolated from other children. Often, when she was talking, she was fairly certain that he wasn't listening at all, simply letting her ramble on for her own satisfaction. Occasionally, though, when she glanced over quickly enough, she saw something in his expression that made her believe that she had been mistaken.  
  
Really, though, nothing astonished her more about their newly-found sort-of friendship than the amount that he found to say to her on the rare days when he made up his mind to talk. She was beginning to look forward to those days on which he would tell her stories of doings and people of ages long past and how these had shaped the way the world was presently (or in 600 A.D., at any rate), of folk-tales and mythology, of the funny, strange little superstitions that people held. On one occasion, she had tried to subtly induce him to talk about his past. She was punished for this, though, as he had not only caught on and refused, but refused to speak again at all for some days.  
  
Gradually, as she learned more about the matters that he spoke of, mulled over them in her own mind, she became well able to hold her own in two-way discussions, and eventually, they found themselves discussing any and every matter under the sun when the spirit moved them, and simply being silent together when it didn't.  
  
For all the subjects that they touched on, though, there was one that both carefully avoided, a subject that was, perhaps because of this, never far from the minds of either. It had been nearly three weeks since they had been sent to this remote place, and both were beginning to wonder more anxiously than they ever would have admitted to the other, if they were ever going to be taken home.  
  
Everyday, they would faithfully search the cave for signs of exactly what had sent them there, waiting with hope that sank just a little each day, for the phenomenon to be repeated.  
  
As it had been fairly apparent that it was by fault of a malfunctioning Epoch that they had been sent there, both of them, knowing the concept of time-travel inside out (on the surface, before one reached the more mind- bending aspects, at any rate), were able to reason through the possible solutions and devise a plan of action there from.  
  
The plan of action was, essentially, to concentrate on survival until someone came with the Epoch to find them. Eventually, Crono and the others would have to get it repaired by someone who knew reasonably well how to do it, and would begin searching for their missing party members. Until then, there seemed to be little that Magus and Lucca could do, outside of wait, and search around on the faint possibility of a Gate in the area, which, as Lucca reminded Magus gloomily, would do them no good at all, without the Gate Key.  
  
Arriving at the conclusion that they would watch and wait, the sorcerer and the scientist avoided the subject like a plague of some sort. Reflecting ruefully more than once that talking about it might really help, Lucca set to work pushing all such thoughts from her mind. She had sworn to herself that she would not burden him with her own fear, and she would keep to that. Gradually, she began to lose herself in a constant routine. Beneath the placid, ordered calm of their new life, though, she existed in a silent state of panic. She wondered idly if he faced the same stark horror that she did whenever he thought about their situation. If he did, though, there was no outward sign of it.  
  
  
  
She was not so good at denial.  
  
One evening, following a day that had been particularly hard on both of them, one most frustrating in hunting, gathering, and personal issues alike, Lucca sat before the fire within the cave, struggling to skin a rabbit, the only thing that had been good enough to stop long enough to be caught that day. Unfortunately, skinning a rabbit is no easy matter when the only tool one has to use, besides a scythe belonging to a sulky wizard too selfish to share his toys, she reflected with a dark scowl in his direction, is a barely sharpened wooden stick. As such, the task was dragging out in a most frustrating manner, giving both ample time to get very, very hungry. And, as everyone knows, people are not at their most agreeable when they're very, very hungry. As such, when she happened to glance up to catch Magus watching her intently, she immediately leapt to her own conclusions as to the reason for this.  
  
"What?" she snapped, eyes narrowing. In reality, he had simply been rather amused by the expression of intense concentration on her face, something more than amused by the way a small pink tongue slid from the corner of her mouth, as is the tendency when people are deeply engrossed in a task. But the little chit was beginning to get on his nerves. He rolled his own eyes, looking away.  
  
"Nothing," he huffed.  
  
"If you think you could do this so much better, then why don't you?"  
  
"What? And let you be completely useless? Remember, I caught the damn thing."  
  
At any other moment, Lucca might have caught the faint irony in his tone, noticed the slight upward quirk at the corners of his mouth into a smile, and taken the comment in the spirit intended. However, it never occurred to her that he might be in jest, and his words flicked on the raw.  
  
"Piss off," she requested dully, tossing the bloodied rabbit to the dirt and turning away before the first teardrops could work their way down her face. Exactly what did he expect of her, anyway? Of course she had no idea how to go about skinning a rabbit; she'd never tried to do it before!  
  
'Get used to it,' she advised herself gloomily, ducking slightly at the entrance of the cave as she stepped outside. 'What if you're stuck here forever? You'll have plenty of time to get good at it.'  
  
And with the concept of endless years trapped in this place stretching out before her, the carefully built dam seemed to crumble, and a massive wave of desolation swept over her. Almost unaware of how it happened, she sank to the ground, the tears coming in a flood. She huddled against the rough stone outer wall of the cave, trying futilely to swallow back her sobs, to still the shudders that wracked through her, before giving up and simply waiting out this sudden, unexpected storm.  
  
A hand rested gently her shoulder, its owner uttering a soft sigh. She leaned back into the touch, too grateful for the comfort of another human hand to care that she had been angry with him a moment ago. Seemingly of their own accord, his arms wrapped carefully around her shoulders, and he pulled her closer against him.  
  
Gradually, she stopped trembling, and relaxed against him, his arms still around her. He listened for a moment to her soft, regular breathing, and rolled his eyes. Well. At least one of them would sleep tonight.  
  
Reluctantly, he lifted her and carried her inside, setting her down gently before the fire. As he tried to straighten back up and move to his own side of the fire, her arms tightened around him.  
  
'Surprisingly strong little thing...'  
  
For the second night since their sojourn on the mountain had begun, he fell asleep holding her carefully.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Author's Notes: Well...that ended on a real downer. When did this become non-humour? Crikey! Rhianwen's been kidnapped and replaced by Shadow- Rhianwen! Just bear with me until the next chapter. It'll be funny again! I swear! Or, if not that, then sickeningly sweet, at the very least. [Grin]  
  
So, if you're reviewing this, can you do me a favour and let me know if you think the development in the way that Lucca and Magus are relating to each other is realistic, or if I'm moving it too quickly? Or too slowly?  
  
Thanks-yez! 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
  
  
  
  
  
Lucca shivered despite the early-morning sun streaming through the boughs of the branches overhead. The water of the tiny pond had been chilling, and air-drying was certainly not the ideal option. However, marooned in a time and place where, and when, the base necessities were unattainable without a great deal of innovation, such a luxury as a towel was little more than a pipedream.  
  
Still, it did feel good to be really and truly clean for the first time in days. After all, she had done what she could by going farther down the river, but one had to be wary of current, and she wasn't a strong swimmer. And then, of course, the valley was very, very OPEN, and she'd always the uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched. As such, spot washing had been about the extent of her bathing for several days, and she was beginning to feel dreadfully uncomfortable. Hence, the near-giddy level of delight that had filled her upon finding this place.  
  
In quite a rare turn of events, she had woken that morning to find Magus still soundly asleep, his arm draped comfortably over her waist. How comfortable it had been, she tried not to think about. Recalling how she had broken down the previous night, she had cringed at her own lack of strength as she disentangled herself from him. Then she had crept out of the cave, made a decent breakfast off of a couple of handfuls of the blueberries that she had gone back to the valley to gather once finished the manufacturing of a second basket, and then washed her hands. Noting with a frown the way the water had become a rather purplish hue, she had picked up the water basket and started down the mountain to the river.  
  
Upon coming to a well-hidden path that deviated from the one they normally took to get down to the valley, she had taken a moment to weigh the pros and cons of travelling it. It was true that Magus disliked it when she went off to explore on her own - he had said often enough that he didn't trust her not to get caught up in a daydream of some silly gizmo and walk right off the edge of the mountain - but wasn't he still asleep? Without another moment's pause, she had started along the new path - and had exclaimed in delight upon pushing through the leafy branches of two birches blocking the path no more than twenty yards down it to find a clear, still, mirror-like, and best of all, sheltered pond. This must, she reflected, be the pond that they had seen from their vantage point higher up, but had been always unable to find. All thoughts of her deadline - to be back with the water before Magus woke up to know that she had left in the first place - utterly forgotten, she had immediately stripped and splashed into the cool water.  
  
And now, here she was, sprawled out on the slab of stone sloping into the pond, waiting until she was sufficiently dry to get dressed. Stretching her arms high above her head, she sat up and arched her back, trying to work the stiffness out of it. Then she fell back against the sun-warmed rock again with a blissful sigh.  
  
A few moments later, she sighed reluctantly, remembering that she had, indeed, been trying to get back before Magus woke up. She had just began to climb to her feet when a voice from behind her, soft, but no less ominous for its softness, commanded coldly,  
  
"Get dressed."  
  
With a startled shriek, she leapt to her feet and scrambled to cover herself with her arms.  
  
"What are you doing here?!" she demanded, whirling about to face him, blushing hotly, wondering for a moment how long he'd been there.  
  
He neither acknowledged nor answered the question, his eyes fixed on her intently.  
  
"Quickly, please."  
  
Despite themselves, the words were a command, a hint of steel lying behind them. Reaching for her clothes, she cursed herself inwardly for waiting so long to go back. This was the second time she'd done something like this, and if his reaction the first time, not to mention that expression in his eyes, were any indication, this could turn out to be very bad, indeed. Despite his icy countenance, the look in his eyes was one of utter fury. No, this would not be a pleasant day.  
  
And in this, she was most correct. The instant she pulled her shirt down over her head and slipped her glasses on, a strong hand enclosed her shoulder like a band of steel in a nearly violent grip. From here, she found herself half-dragged, half-carried, always by that one shoulder, which quickly became quite painful, not that she would have dared to complain, back to their camp.  
  
  
  
Once they arrived, she shook free of his grip and crossed her arms, glaring at him defiantly.  
  
"What's wrong this time?"  
  
He whirled around to face her and took hold of her arm, his eyes blazing into hers.  
  
"What in the hell were you thinking?" he demanded, shaking her.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
He shut his eyes briefly, drawing in a deep breath. As he released her, she hastened to step back, rubbing her arm and shoulder gingerly.  
  
"What do I mean? I woke up this morning to find you gone!"  
  
"So? You've been gone when I woke up plenty of times."  
  
He snorted.  
  
"Yes, but I have a weapon."  
  
"I can defend myself!"  
  
"I keep asking you not to wander off! Do you have no concept of the danger out there? When you weren't in the cave, I thought you'd been - "  
  
"I just said, I can - "  
  
"No! You can't! You KNOW that you're not a strong fighter! You can hit things with that silly gun of yours, but you don't have it! Tell me exactly what you'd do if you found yourself surrounded on all sides by wolves."  
  
"I would think of something."  
  
"No, you would be ripped to pieces!"  
  
She sighed, approaching him slowly and placing a hand lightly on his shoulder.  
  
"Magus, one of the first things you said when we first got here, was that we've got to trust one another. That means you have to trust that I'm not going to do anything stupid!"  
  
"Hmph. Hard to remember when you invariably do."  
  
"No, I don't. Believe me, I'm alright on my own long enough to go take a bath."  
  
"Oh, so that's what you were doing."  
  
"Well, yeah. Why else would I be dripping wet and..."  
  
"Er, yes."  
  
Both looked away, reddening slightly. He looked back at her, mentally kicking himself as his imagination set straight to work imagining her clothes strewn about on the ground, and subsequently off of her, as they had been moments ago. Giving his head a shake, he spoke calmly.  
  
"Alright. I'll try to trust you a little more, if you make sure to tell me when you take it into your head to wander off."  
  
She nodded, quite satisfied with this conclusion. Then a wicked smirk crossed her face.  
  
"You realize, though, that you've just given me full rights to nag you about where it is you wander off to."  
  
He quirked an eyebrow, then shook his head, the corners of his mouth turning up in a slight smile.  
  
"Well. If nothing else, it's good to know that you found somewhere suitable for bathing."  
  
"Yeah. I was getting tired of trying to use the river."  
  
"I think we both were."  
  
'I think we're both just getting tired of being here, of all the uncertainty,' she thought, carefully holding the thought back. Then she stopped. Hadn't they just agreed to trust each other more?  
  
"Magus?"  
  
He stopped at the entrance to the cave and turned.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Do you think we should...maybe...try to explore a little more, see where we are? When we are? And maybe if we can find some way to get back?"  
  
The wizard sighed, starting back to the tree she was leaned against. He had wondered how long it would be before she asked this.  
  
"I thought we agreed to stay near the cave in case whatever freak accident it was that sent us here repeated."  
  
"Well...we could come back again after. Didn't we say that we were going to try to figure out what was what once we got ourselves established here?"  
  
"I don't remember that..."  
  
"Well, we did. Trust me."  
  
"Very well," he replied with an amused smirk. "We'll think about it. But not today. By the time we're finished everything we have to do today, it'll be far too late to even think of exploring. I'm going to go try to catch something a little bigger than rabbits and birds. And didn't you say you wanted to make some more of those deformed baskets of yours?"  
  
"No!" she huffed. "I was gonna see about piling some grass up inside the cave to sleep on. Not too close to the fire - Kindling City - but it'll sure be nice to have something soft to sleep on."  
  
"Yes, definitely keep them away from the fire. But you're quite right; it will be nice."  
  
"And after that, I'm going to go find some more berries. Maybe some nuts if we're really lucky."  
  
"Well. Alright. Shall we start, then? Just..."  
  
"I know, I know. Be careful, right?"  
  
"No. Just show me again how to find that little pond first."  
  
"But you found it on your own," she reminded him, confused.  
  
"I wasn't exactly paying attention to what paths I was taking," he replied dryly.  
  
"...Oh. Sorry."  
  
"Yes, well...shall we go?"  
  
  
  
After showing him the exact path she had taken to find the pond the first time, they had once again parted ways, he to try his hand at the hunting of larger animals, if such a thing could be found, and she to refill their fruit supply, as well as to bring up basketful after basketful of long, soft grasses from the valley to dump on the floor of the cave, one pile on either side of their fire-pit.  
  
However, as she soon discovered, it takes one hell of a lot of grass to make two piles of sufficient thickness to sleep on. As such, by the time the makeshift mattresses were completed to her satisfaction, after somewhere in the vicinity of twenty-five walks down and back up the mountain path to and from the valley, she was good and ready to use one of them. With an exhausted sigh, she flopped backwards into the grass.  
  
"Don't get too comfortable," a familiar voice advised her dryly from the mouth of the cave. "I'm going to need your help skinning this damn thing."  
  
"Go 'way. I'm sleeping."  
  
"No, you're helping me cook."  
  
"Sleeping!"  
  
"You can sleep later."  
  
"Sleeping!"  
  
"Yes, that's been established."  
  
"Sleeping!"  
  
"You're awfully good at being stubborn, aren't you?" he observed, tossing the boar onto a mat of knotted grasses that she had assembled for such purposes.  
  
"Sleeping!"  
  
"Yes, and at sleeping," he agreed, rolling his eyes. "If you don't get up, I'm going to come over there and make you."  
  
"Go 'way! Sleeping!"  
  
"Sleep later!"  
  
"Oh, what're you gonna do? You don't have the guts to do anything!"  
  
  
  
Lucca realized that saying this had been a mistake as she found herself hauled up, over his shoulder, carried down to the river, and thrown in. To his credit, he kept a hold on the back of her shirt as he dipped her in, to make sure that she wouldn't be carried off by the current.  
  
  
  
"Okay, okay, you do have the guts," she conceded, trudging into the cave, wringing the water out of her hair, and sitting down before the fire, shivering. Magus smirked.  
  
"Does that mean you're ready to help me?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I'll help," she grumbled, climbing to her feet and rolling her eyes as a puddle of river water formed on the ground around her.  
  
  
  
That evening, as they sat near the fire, after a good deal of nervous fidgeting, Lucca shot him a hesitant, nearly shy glance.  
  
"I...I'm sorry I lost it like that last night," she began slowly. He stared back, utterly bewildered. Reddening slightly, she continued. "I know it can't be fun to have to deal with a head-case."  
  
"Yes, well, I've managed."  
  
"Oh," she said, somewhat put out, as though she hadn't expected him to agree QUITE so readily.  
  
"This has been a nice break from it."  
  
"Uh...what?"  
  
"I'm talking about the rest of that group we're with. Or, at least, that we should ideally be with right now."  
  
"You're...going to give me a psychological evaluation of all our friends?"  
  
"Your friends. No more than acquaintances to me at best."  
  
"...Oh. Does that mean that I'm just an acquaintance, too?"  
  
"What else?"  
  
"Gee, thanks." With an effort, she gave a small laugh. "So, go on. Tell me why exactly you're a gleaming beacon of sanity and perfection in a sea of nut-cases."  
  
Scowling at the sarcasm dripping from her tone, he sat back and crossed his arms.  
  
"Very well. Let us start with that idiotic amphibian."  
  
"Froggy?! C'mon, what's wrong with him? I mean, besides the obvious emotional damage of being a frog and having girls shriek about how icky he is." She smiled sheepishly. "I guess I didn't really do a lot to help that the first time we met."  
  
He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"I hate frogs, so I was kind of hiding behind Crono, going on about the freaky giant talking frog. But, go on. What's wrong with him?"  
  
"Aside from his over-developed guilt muscle, and the decided tendency to want to take responsibility for everything that goes wrong - ever - nothing at all."  
  
"Okay, so he's got a bit of a hero-complex. It's not like there isn't a reason for it."  
  
"A hero-complex? He's been doing penance for...for being unable to save Cyrus, for years. He sustained himself with the idea of killing me and avenging his friend. But when he decided not to, the entire structure of what he had been living for crumbled."  
  
"Ah. I see your point. But...what about Robo? How can a robot have issues?"  
  
"A robot who is plotting to start his OWN Real World (tm)?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess...if that isn't a sure sign of insanity, I don't know what is. Ah! Ayla! There's no way she's got any issues. She's the most balanced of us all."  
  
"I suppose, in her case, it isn't psychological issues I object to, but rather, to the fact that her view of the world, while what many would see as honourable and courageous, is completely simplistic."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"'You make Ayla mad, Ayla kill,'" he quoted dryly.  
  
"What?! She's not impractical! You know she's strong enough to do it."  
  
"Until it comes to something that doesn't play by the rules of brute strength versus brute strength, and throws something at her that she doesn't expect."  
  
"She can adapt, though."  
  
"She's still too confident, by far. This attitude of hers applies to Lavos as much as to everything else. And a view like that will get her, and likely the rest of us, killed."  
  
"Okay, granted, she's a little reckless."  
  
"And smelly, hairy, and with the annoying tendency to walk around in a fur bikini."  
  
"Hey, if you've got it, flaunt it. And she's definitely got it."  
  
"I suppose that explains why you go about covered nearly from head to toe."  
  
As an expression of hurt flickered across her face before she could quite stop it, he almost regretted having said it. But he could still recall vividly the sight of her stretched out on that rock, her clothes next to her in a heap, and that expression of peaceful contentment on her face, eyes closed, lips curved up in a slight smile, and felt his body react with an uncomfortable swiftness every time it crossed his mind.  
  
As such, he was quite anxious to convince her - and himself - that he couldn't possibly be less attracted to her.  
  
"Yeah, I guess that has something to do with it," she replied with a forced laugh. "Oh! But back to psychological problems, what about Marle? Remember, for a person's brain to be messed up, there has to be one there."  
  
"Yes...well, the little princess is the exception to that rule, now, isn't she? The only way to know for sure that she has a brain is to observe all the things wrong with it."  
  
"Like what? She seems pretty well-adjusted to me."  
  
He gave a contemptuous snort.  
  
"Well-adjusted? Recall, if you will, that she has run away from home. Basically, she has thrown a kingdom into turmoil because she felt like playing the rebellious daughter."  
  
"Okay, I really think that's a snap judgement. There's a lot more to it than that."  
  
"Maybe," he replied with a shrug. "I don't especially care, either way. You asked, that's all."  
  
"Yeah, I guess I did. Okay, what about Crono? I'm really curious to see what you pin him with."  
  
"Crono?" Magus echoed, an eyebrow lifting. "He's the most troubled of the bunch. I suppose part of it is due to being forced into a role that goes utterly against his nature. He's far too quiet to lead anyone, and the pressure put on him makes him retreat, become even more so. He has this need to be taken care of by someone, while believing that he is the one taking care of them. A walking contradiction. He hates being made to take the role of the hero, but he must take it. He wants to be the care-giver, but needs one himself. He craves monotony, but becomes bored with it."  
  
Finished with his speech, he sat back and fixed her with a smug smile. She stared back incredulously for a moment, and then began, quietly at first, to laugh.  
  
"What's so funny?" he demanded.  
  
"Did you expect me to be all offended that you were putting down my best friend? You've just described all men everywhere!"  
  
"Not myself..."  
  
"Oh, sure. I'm sure you fit the pattern in some ways."  
  
"I don't, I assure you. I am completely aware of what it is I want."  
  
"Riiiiight. Hey, analyze me. I wanna see what you think of my twisted mind."  
  
"Your twisted mind is a frightening place, poindexter."  
  
"Oh, shut up!" Then she sighed. "Y'know, when I was younger, I used to think that Crono and I would grow up and get married."  
  
"How 'younger?'"  
  
"Oh, about two and a half months younger than now," she replied with a grin. "At first, when Marle came into the picture, I was...I don't know if I was sad, or annoyed, or a little of each, but...I don't know. Now, I guess I can just see that they're perfect together. She can take care of him, but she comes across as needing him to take care of her."  
  
"She needs him to remind her how to use a door, to be exact," he agreed dryly.  
  
"No! Seriously. There's really a lot more going on in her mind than you'd think."  
  
"It isn't just a little hamster running around and around on a wheel?" he would have asked in mock surprise, would it not have been too utterly silly a thing for Magus to say. It was, though, and instead, he simply smirked. Shaking her head, she continued.  
  
"The more I think about it, the more I know that Crono and I really would have driven each other crazy. I mean, we're great friends, but anything more...he needs someone who needs to be taken care of."  
  
"I think you come within that bracket."  
  
"No, I don't!"  
  
"Whatever you say. Let's not argue about it. Instead, to go back to your earlier question, I've been thinking about it, and perhaps you're right. We should leave to explore. We can go for two or three days at a time. That way, if we miss our chance to get back, another one should happen again. And at the same time, we can get an idea of where the hell we are."  
  
"Alright. So, when are we gonna do that?"  
  
"We'll get some things packed, and leave tomorrow."  
  
"Uh...packed in what?"  
  
"...Your dress tied onto the end of a stick."  
  
"Oh...so, we won't pack a lot."  
  
"What would we pack, even if we had room?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right."  
  
"Mmm...now, go to sleep."  
  
"Alright, alright," she mock-grumbled, climbing onto her pile of grass and snuggling down, smothering a yawn as she did so.  
  
Allowing himself a brief smile when he knew that she was looking away, he followed suit, and soon all was silent in the small cave.  
  
  
  
It was late. Close to midnight, she was certain. Why she had come out here so late, indeed, why she had even woken up, she was uncertain. Something had just...led her. She walked slowly, wondering briefly where all that fog had come from. Ah! Of course! From the water! In her wandering, she had somehow contrived to reach the little pond within the clearing. She pushed silently through the trees...and came to an abrupt stop, blushing a bright red, as it became clear by the faint outline of a human head and shoulders emerging from the water, that the pool was not unoccupied. Apparently, she had found out when it was that he came here to bathe. As she turned to slip away as silently as she had arrived, he stood up. A breath caught in her throat, and she stared, transfixed, as the water ran in rivulets from his hair, coloured silvery in the moonlight, down the smooth, taut muscles of his back. His shoulders flexed as he raised his arms to wipe the water from his eyes, and involuntarily, she gave a soft moan.  
  
He whirled about, and her eyes widened with fear.  
  
"I...I didn't know you were here," she stammered out, turning away. "I was just leaving."  
  
"Wait."  
  
She stopped dead in the act of pushing back through the trees, and listened in no small amount of shock as his footsteps grew closer.  
  
"I want you to stay," he murmured against her ear, his arms winding around her from behind.  
  
"I...uh...okay."  
  
With a soft laugh, he took her shoulders gently and spun her about to face him, pulling adeptly at the layers between them. Then, miraculously, her clothes were gone, and they were pressed intimately together, their hearts pounding in time as their mouths met. Her hands tangled in his hair, and his hands slid slowly and sensuously up and down her spine.  
  
As their embrace became more heated, hands and mouths exploring naked flesh, he lifted her and laid her carefully on the rock sloping up from the water. A shiver ran through her at the silken strands of hair brushing over her shoulders as he leaned down, his tongue seeking out the hollow at the base of her throat. Her eyes slid shut, a blissful noise remarkably like a purr emanating from her. They popped back open again with a startled gasp as his mouth began to move lower...  
  
  
  
...and she found herself staring up, not at the glint of stars between the canopy of branches and leaves overhead, the whole scene bathed in moonlight, but up at the roof of the rock cave, lit dimly by a barely flickering fire. Sitting up and rubbing her eyes, she let out a shaky breath.  
  
'A dream...it was a dream.'  
  
Then, a moment later,  
  
'...Damn.'  
  
She flopped back down against the makeshift mattress of dry grass, and rolled over onto her side, hardly daring to look at him. Squeezing her eyes shut, she willed her stubborn brain to sleep. It quite decisively refused, making a rude gesture and remaining quite alert. With a sigh, she sat back up, her gaze lighting on him. He was stretched out on his back, on the other side of the fire, on top of a pile of grass similar to hers. One arm was folded behind his head, the other draped over his waist. His lips were parted slightly, his breathing deep and regular. As she watched his chest rise and fall gently, she felt her pulse speed up once again, and her blood rush more quickly.  
  
'Oh, gods...this could be a problem...'  
  
Resolutely, she pushed off of the ground, picking bits of grass from her hair and clothes. She had to go get some fresh air. Not only that, but she was uncomfortably sure that, if she stayed, the rapid pounding of her heart, or, if not that, her harsh breathing, might wake him up.  
  
  
  
"Ack!" she shrieked, startled, as she stepped out of the cave...and into the pouring rain. "Oh, I KNEW we were having it too good with weather! Well," she sighed, "as long as I'm out here, and soaking wet, I might as well take advantage of it."  
  
She wandered aimlessly about the mountain ledge for a few moments. Then, on her fifth lap, she rolled her eyes and gazed longingly up the mountain path, which seemed to beckon in the moonlight...and the torrents of rain pouring down over it.  
  
"What harm could a little walk do? I won't go far..."  
  
Perhaps there was something in Lucca that unconsciously sought out danger.  
  
  
  
Magus woke very suddenly as a clap of thunder split the night.  
  
"What in the hell...? Well, as much as I hate to say it, four-eyes, it seems that you were right. The weather WAS too good to hold forever...Lucca? Lucca?"  
  
He let out a soft curse as his gaze lit on the empty pile of grass opposite his. Without a moment's hesitation, he sprang to his feet and bolted from the cave.  
  
  
  
"I should probably turn back pretty soon..." she murmured, although not with a great deal of enthusiasm. Despite the rain, the night was a beautiful one, the air surprisingly warm, enough to make the rain refreshing rather than chilling. "I probably look like a drowned rat by now..."  
  
With a self-deprecating laugh, she put a hand to her head and ran it through the mop of purple hair now plastered to her head, then wiped the water from her eyes and continued on.  
  
"But I don't want Magus to wake up and find me gone..."  
  
However, as she thought of the sorcerer, the exact train of these thoughts quickly slid down the slope descending from innocent into...less so.  
  
"Geez! What in the hell is wrong with me tonight? Maybe I'd better walk a little longer."  
  
  
  
"Lucca! Goddamnit, Lucca, where in the hell are you?"  
  
'As soon as I find her, I am going to shake her until her teeth rattle - or until she gets the hint that wandering off alone, in the middle of the night, during a goddamned thunderstorm is a bad idea!'  
  
As he reached the little copse of trees that blocked the little bathing pond from clear view, a horrifying thought tore through his mind. What if she had...  
  
'No, certainly the little chit would know enough not to go UP the path..."  
  
However, when a quick glance around the clearing and in the pond revealed no sign of her, and Magus began to run out of places to search, it seemed the only possible place. Without a moment's hesitation, he turned and tore back up the path as quickly as a slick layer of mud would let him.  
  
  
  
"Wow! It is officially raining!" Lucca noted aloud as a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. "One...two...three...four...five..."  
  
She was interrupted, cringing as a deafening crack of thunder echoed through the night.  
  
"That's pretty close...I wonder if I should turn back...I think I've gone pretty far up the path..."  
  
However, as luck would have it - bad luck, that is - she had gone farther up the path than she should have, and before she knew what was happening, a soft snarl that had nothing to do with the storm reached her ears, and as her eyes lit on two eerily glowing, decidedly feline eyes, she knew that she had made a mistake.  
  
"Oh, shit..." she breathed, backing away slowly.  
  
The mountain lion, however, would have none of this. Hadn't this scrawny, pasty little creature with its oddly patchy purple fur that only grew on its head trespassed on HER territory? And with two newly born cubs waiting for her back in her cave, too! No, this could not be allowed to pass without severe reproach. The lion crouched back, tensing.  
  
"Oh, no!" Lucca moaned, backing up more quickly. This was a grievous error.  
  
A whistling noise cut the air as the lion leapt.  
  
  
  
'Shit! How far up the mountain could she have gone in such a short time?'  
  
Carefully focussing on anger, not allowing himself to dwell for an instant on fear, on the idea that he wouldn't get to her in time, knowing that such thoughts could serve only to paralyse him, Magus struggled onward up the mountain path, frantically searching anywhere that she could have conceivably hidden. If she had wandered far enough to bring her into contact with any sort of large, dangerous creature...  
  
An electrified fist dug itself into his stomach with a jolt that nearly made him physically recoil as a terrified scream cut through the air.  
  
"ACK! HELP!!"  
  
  
  
Inwardly blessing Crono and his insistence that they work together on her dexterity and speed during spare moments, Lucca jumped out of the way, hitting the sopping mud with a squish as the lion landed almost silently. Never again would she complain about a little extra training. Still, no time to stop. She rolled out of the way as the massive feline changed directions and tried for her again. Quickly climbing to her feet, a furious growl sent her into a panic as the lion sailed through the air toward her.  
  
"ACK! HELP!!"  
  
"Lucca!"  
  
"Hey, Magus! Great timing!"  
  
"Goddamnit, Lucca! Get out of the way!"  
  
Dodging past the lion, she darted over to him.  
  
"Thanks for the tip," she grinned. No longer on her own to deal with an admittedly very, very BAD situation, she was no longer so terrified. "I WAS just going to let it take my head off."  
  
"That's still a possibility. Get back!"  
  
Shoving her out of the way, he wrenched a branch from a nearby tree and swung at the wildcat hurtling toward them.  
  
With a swipe of her capable paw, the mountain lion sent Magus and his makeshift weapon skittering over the ground and into the face of the mountain some ten feet away. After all, it hadn't been this one who had disturbed her and her children. This little purple-haired thing was her target at the moment. The blue-haired one could be dealt with just as easily when she came back.  
  
Choking back a wave of nausea as Magus collided roughly with the rock wall and lay, unmoving, Lucca prayed that there would be no more of them in the cave, wherever it was. If she could lead this one away, it might buy him some time to get out of there.  
  
And, at the same time, she might get the damn creature to leave her alone!  
  
With this faulty reasoning firmly in place, Lucca started running, hampered by her boot getting stuck in the mud every two steps, as well as by the sopping garments clinging to her, weighing her down.  
  
Thus, by the time she reached the cave that they were camped in, she was utterly exhausted.  
  
'I can't run anymore...gods, I just hope Magus was able to get out of there...'  
  
Just as Lucca stopped, slumped forward, and essentially gave herself up for dead, a tree caught her eye.  
  
'I wonder...well, it couldn't do any harm at this point.'  
  
Without a moment's hesitation, with the knowledge that the lion wasn't far behind her, she bolted over to the massive, sturdy oak and hauled herself up into its branches, climbing as high as she could.  
  
Clinging to the damp wood, she breathed a sigh of relief...until a snarl rang out just beneath her.  
  
The next instant, a red-hot agony shot through her leg as a set of claws tore into her flesh, trying doggedly to drag her from the tree.  
  
As she sat there on that tree branch, clinging tightly to the trunk, feeling rivulets of blood trickling down her leg, mingling with the rain, praying desperately for the mercy of whatever higher power might exist, survival suddenly seemed of the utmost importance. With an angry shriek, she tugged her leg from the grip that the animal's claw had on it, opening the wounds further, but disregarding that entirely.  
  
Then a loud crack of breaking wood split the air, and, as the mountain lion fell to the ground and stalked away with a final angry snarl at the tree, Lucca was quite inclined to believe that this enigmatic higher power had, in fact, answered her call. She would have to make it a point to convert to a religion of some sort when she got home.  
  
But, in the meantime, blood loss, shock, and overall exhaustion were taking their toll on everyone's favourite purple-haired genius, and she felt herself succumbing to weariness, being gradually submerged by a wave of sleep, slipping from consciousness even as she swayed unsteadily and then slipped from the tree branch.  
  
Her last recollection was of falling...  
  
  
  
End Notes: [Sigh] Y'know what sucks? This WAS going to be the second-last chapter, until I let my muses have a say in it. Now this is, like, the fourth or fifth last chapter. I don't know - they just totally took over the story and decided that they wanted more of a plot. They told me on no uncertain terms that they refused to be associated with this if I gave them so contrived an ending as Crono just showing up at the mountain to get them.  
  
Yeah, okay, so I agree with them. It doesn't mean I'm not ticked off at them for pointing it out. :o)  
  
Anyway, the point is, this means that the story's gonna stretch out for a lot longer. Hope you don't mind! [Hopeful, pleading glance]  
  
And I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for Lucca's dream sequence. It was fun! I couldn't resist the 'shipperiness!  
  
Also, what did you think of the quasi-action sequence? Utterly cheesy? Decent? First one I've ever written, so I'm a little nervous.  
  
Oh, and one more thing: I don't know if it's cheesy to tell you this, but A KISS COMING NEXT CHAPTER!!! But sorry to tell you, Mr. Me, there will be no 'getting on' of 'it.' Not for a few chapters, anyway. [Grin] Kidding. They won't do that...on-screen. 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - A Turning Point  
  
  
  
  
  
"Lucca?" Magus called frantically, sprinting up the path, glancing about the clearing.  
  
No answer. Again, louder, more urgently.  
  
"Lucca!"  
  
Still no response. A moment later, he grew pale, and the hand of freezing stone that had been clasped loosely around his heart since he had heard her cries for help tightened its hold as his gaze lit on a patch of earth near the edge of the cliff, stained crimson with blood. In the shape of a large paw.  
  
'Oh, gods...'  
  
Behind it was another patch of bloodied earth, more vibrantly crimson, in the same shape. They continued, increasing in the thickness of the blood left. He followed them, and the freezing hand tightened around his heart with a suddenness that nearly choked the air from his lungs at the sight of a small shape, lying, unmoving beneath a tree, purple hair spilling over the ground, surrounded by a growing puddle of blood seeping from four cruel- looking parallel slash marks in her leg just above the knee, and fragments of splintered wood.  
  
'Oh, gods...'  
  
He tore from the path to the tree, throwing himself to the ground next to her, carefully lifting her head with his hand.  
  
"Lucca!"  
  
Her eyes didn't open.  
  
"Oh, hell...Lucca! If you can hear me at all, open your eyes!"  
  
Still she didn't move, remaining draped limply over his arm. He looked down, squeezing his eyes shut, shaking uncontrollably, praying that he should presently wake to find this merely a dream. Then, an eternity later, her eyes fluttered open, and she gazed up at him, confused, disoriented. Slowly, she lifted a hand to his cheek, her fingers brushing lightly over it, as though she had never seen his face before and wanted to memorize it.  
  
"You're okay..." she murmured.  
  
At the light touch, and the barely audible words, he lifted his head and stared down at her, incredulity and elation combining in his expression. They stared at one another for a moment, both utterly unheeding of the rain that continued to beat down upon them. She smiled weakly. Almost instinctively, he hauled her up, pulled her against him, and pressed his lips to hers. She made a soft sound in the back of her throat, caught between a whimper and a purr as he slid a hand back into her hair, the other carefully wrapped around her waist.  
  
She opened her mouth, trying to deepen the kiss, but he pulled back to look her in the face, cupping her cheek in one hand and holding her tightly against him with his other arm.  
  
"What were you thinking, going up there alone?!"  
  
"Wha...?"  
  
"That was absolutely the most foolish thing I have ever known you to do! Shit! You almost got killed, you little idiot! Do you realize that?!"  
  
She nodded uncomfortably, lowering her gaze.  
  
"When in the hell are you going to stop doing these damn fool things?! That lion...if that branch hadn't broken...you..."  
  
He pressed her face down into his shoulder and continued, more softly,  
  
"You've got to try to be a little more careful. Yes, you got out of this with only an injured leg, but the gods know what may happen next time if I'm not there to help you!"  
  
"I'm sorry," she whispered against his shoulder, winding her arms around him and shifting slightly. She flinched as her leg dragged roughly across the rocky soil. Immediately, he lowered her carefully to the ground, supporting her head with his arm.  
  
Carefully schooling his features back into a properly indifferent mask, he told her coolly,  
  
"Get ready; I'm going to help you sit up."  
  
She nodded uncertainly, and he slid his hand from the back of her neck down her spine, and helped her struggle into a more upright position.  
  
"What in the hell happened, anyway?"  
  
"Well, when you distracted her, I started to run. But she came after me, 'cause, y'know, I was the one that she thought was threatening her children. How...how did you escape? Weren't there others?"  
  
"No; when she swatted me out of the way, I landed almost right next to the cave. I happened to be facing it when I opened my eyes. The only other lions here were two cubs."  
  
"Gods! No wonder she was so...vicious."  
  
"Yes, and lions are perfectly docile the rest of the time," he agreed sarcastically. "Anyway, go on. What happened? How did you get her away?"  
  
"Well, she chased me down the path, and then, when I saw that tree, climbing it seemed like a really good idea, because then I could stop running, and I thought she might leave. Unfortunately," she continued with a sheepish grin, gesturing to the slashes on her leg, "I forgot that mountain lions are of the cat family, and can climb trees."  
  
"What...what stopped it?" he inquired suspiciously, glancing about furtively, the thought occurring to him that maybe they shouldn't be out in the open, that the beast might return.  
  
"She forgot that she's a lot heavier than me," Lucca replied with a smug grin, "and that branch couldn't support her weight."  
  
Ah. Hence the bits of scrap-wood scattered about.  
  
"So, when she fell out of the tree, she must have figured that she'd lost me, and that it wasn't worth it, now that her babies weren't in danger any more. I think she went down the mountain."  
  
"Most likely, from the tracks," he agreed. Then he shook his head. "But I never dreamed that anything was living so close. That means, out of this, you got at least one wish answered; we'll be leaving as soon as we can. We certainly can't stay here any longer."  
  
"What?! Not leaving for good...?!"  
  
He nodded grimly. She pressed a hand to her forehead, then looked up at him and shook her head emphatically.  
  
"No! What if we have to go back the same way we came? If we leave, we might miss our chance!"  
  
"Our 'chance' won't do us any good if we're torn to shreds before it happens," he replied dryly, gathering her carefully into his arms.  
  
She sighed, willing herself to calm down.  
  
"Y'know, the lions - they've never bothered us before," she pointed out, arms wrapping around his neck as he stood. "The mother only came after me because I wandered into her territory, and she thought I was going to hurt her babies."  
  
"Lucca, if I had had any idea that there were dangerous animals so nearby, do you think we would have stayed here in the first place?"  
  
"Not like we had a lot of choice."  
  
"We'll make a choice," he informed her sternly, ducking at the entrance of the cave.  
  
"Right. So, where do we go? The valley? We'll have to build a shelter, y'know. No way we'll get lucky enough to find another cave. And I'm not gonna be a lot of help."  
  
"Yes," he replied, setting her down on one of the piles of grass, making sure that her leg, wrapped tightly in a strip of cloth torn from his shirt and washed in the rainwater collected by the baskets Lucca had earlier set outside, was properly cushioned on the orange dress, which he balled up and slid under it. "We'll go to the valley first. If we have to, we'll simply sleep under the trees until that starts to heal," he informed her, gesturing to her leg. "After that, we'll leave the valley and see if there are any other people about that might tell us where we are."  
  
There was a long silence. She touched his shoulder lightly.  
  
"Alright. But, Magus, let's wait until after the rain stops, at least."  
  
"If we can," he agreed reluctantly. "Now, get some sleep."  
  
Surprisingly compliantly, she lay back against the grass and, shooting him a weary smile, closed her eyes.  
  
  
  
The rain came down steadily all through that night, well into and through the next day, and the next after it.  
  
When, on the fourth day, the rain had not abated at all, Magus came to a decision. Thus far, they had seen no sign of the mountain lions. Of course, he had remained in the cave the entire time, save for brief trips for water and food. Lucca, of course, had left only once, carried by Magus, when she protested that if she had to stare at the cracks in the wall and top of the cave any longer she would go nuts.  
  
It was certainly unrealistic to believe that they would be able to remain so confined to the cave for much longer. Particularly with the pressing need to get some help tending to the gashes in the young woman's leg. Between the two of them, they had washed the dirt and grime from it and bandaged it as best they could, but infection was not an outlandish possibility by any means.  
  
What this all pointed to, was that they had to leave before another day passed.  
  
Rising from his steadfast position by the mouth of the cave, he crossed to where she lay, fallen by some miracle into an uneasy slumber. Almost reluctant to wake her, he knelt next to her and pressed a hand to the side of her face. Ah. Wonderful. The skin was clammy and hot to the touch. Definitely feverish.  
  
'A terrific time for you to choose to get sick, bookworm.'  
  
Without a moment's hesitation, he touched her shoulder gently. Waking with a start, she gazed up at him, puzzlement clear in blue eyes clouded over with the weariness of illness.  
  
"We're leaving," he told her gruffly in explanation.  
  
"Did the rain stop?" she asked, sitting up slowly and pressing a hand to her head, swallowing in attempt to rid her throat of the uncomfortable scratchy, burning sensation.  
  
"No," he replied shortly, "but we can't wait any longer."  
  
"We're going out there in THAT?!" she exclaimed, suddenly more aware as she glanced around him into the deluge outside. "If anything, the rain's heavier than it was!"  
  
"I realize that," he snapped. "But as I've said, we can't wait any longer."  
  
"I...oh, hell. I guess you're right."  
  
"I'm glad you agree," he replied dryly, stooping to pick up the various articles that they had come with. "I don't think we have anything that we need to take with us."  
  
"No, just what we came with."  
  
With a sigh, he handed her the orange overdress and put on his cape. Then he stooped and gathered her carefully into his arms.  
  
"Grab that, will you?" he requested, indicating his scythe, propped against the wall of the cave. He waited a moment for her to do so. "Ready?"  
  
She nodded uncertainly, and he ducked slightly, stepping through the entrance.  
  
"Make sure you hold on tightly in case I have to let go of you. Not that tightly," he finished in a decidedly strangulated voice as her arms wrapped around his neck in a vice-like hold.  
  
"Sorry," she grinned sheepishly.  
  
"It's alright; just don't forget to hold on now."  
  
That walk was a decidedly unpleasant one for both of them. The rain, although nowhere near as heavy as it had been the night they had encountered the lions, it still came down in a steady, chilling torrent. It wasn't long before both were soaked to the skin and chilled through the skin to the bone. Not only this, but the path was slick and muddy, and Magus had no easy time trying to creep down it while his balance was effectively thrown right off by his little purple-haired burden.  
  
"Magus," Lucca began halfway down the path, "I can walk."  
  
"No, you can't," he replied firmly. "Those cuts aren't healing properly, and have you seen the funny colours that your leg is turning?"  
  
"It...really doesn't hurt that much," she lied valiantly and utterly unconvincingly. In response, he glared at her, held her closer, and continued.  
  
"Oh, c'mon! Aren't you even gonna let me try to walk?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Magus! It really doesn't hurt!"  
  
"Which is not always the best sign, even if I believed you."  
  
"I'll be fine! Please put me down. You're gonna wear yourself down if you have to keep carrying me."  
  
"And you're going to pass out from pain, or seriously injure yourself if you try to walk. No, Lucca, just shut up, alright?"  
  
This effectively quieted her arguments, and with a meekness that made him genuinely anxious for her health, she snuggled against his shoulder, clinging tightly to his neck with her arms and to his scythe with one hand.  
  
  
  
"The valley ends just over there," he informed her, gesturing with his head to the gap between the two mountains that would, indeed, lead them from the valley and into the rest of the world.  
  
"Mmm..." she replied sleepily.  
  
"Once out there, we'll try to find a town or something. Even a cottage."  
  
"Mmm..."  
  
He rolled his eyes and continued with a smirk.  
  
"Hopefully, one owned by a one-nostriled circus clown who will give you and I jobs as a trapeze artist and a lion-tamer, respectively."  
  
"Mmm..."  
  
"Lucca!"  
  
She jolted against him slightly as the sharp tone brought her back to full consciousness.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
He shook his head.  
  
"Gods, I hope we find a town quickly."  
  
"I think we should rest here a while."  
  
"Here? In the rain? On the soaking-wet grass? With no shelter? I thought you were a little smarter than that, bookworm."  
  
"You're tired. You need to rest before we go any further."  
  
"I do NOT need to rest."  
  
"Magus!" she exclaimed in a tone that suggested that, had it been on the ground, she would have stomped her foot. "You're deadly pale. You'll get sick if you don't rest!"  
  
"I'm always deadly pale," he reminded her with a smirk.  
  
"Yeah, well, that's beside the point. We have to stop for a minute."  
  
There was a moment of silence. Then...  
  
"JUST for a moment," he told her seriously, setting her carefully on the sopping wet grass, against a sturdy elm tree.  
  
"Thank-you."  
  
He looked at her curiously.  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For agreeing to rest a while. I guess you aren't the only one who likes to play the over-protective parent."  
  
"Of course. Parent," he murmured with a wry smile, watching as she leaned back against the rough bark of the tree. The smile faded as he took in the almost translucent pallor of her face, the tense expression of pain, and the dimness of ordinarily sharp blue eyes as she glanced at him for a moment before they slid shut. A moment later, her breathing became deep and regular.  
  
"You remember, of course, that I said we would only rest a moment," he murmured ironically, leaning over to brush a lock of wet hair from her forehead. Ah, well. As long as they were stopped, he might as well make some effort to rest, too. Leaning back against the tree, he watched her closely. Gradually, though, the colours of the grey-brown tree bark, the vibrant purple of her hair, the green of the grass, and the moody grey of the overcast sky began to blur together as he went the same way she had and slipped into a deep sleep...  
  
  
  
He was floating through a sea of warm, white light. The fact that the sea was composed of light seemed a little strange to him, but that thought was fleeting, and left him as soon as it came, as he slipped back into the comforting state of rest. Then something caught his eye. An orange and green and purple shape. As he watched it, he felt a sensation growing in the back of his mind that he should really be doing something terribly important right now. He could not, though, recall for the life of him exactly what it was. The urgent feeling was really quite unsettling, but he couldn't bring himself to look away from the shape, or even to want to look away from the shape. A word was forming in his mind. What...? A name? The little shape's name?  
  
"Lucca..." he murmured, almost unaware that he had said it out loud, as he reached out, the unease calming almost as soon as his hand found the little shape, burrowing itself into something soft, cold, damp and purple.  
  
Almost that instant, he felt himself jolted from the sea of warmth and softness, and felt his grasp ripped from his little orange and green and purple shape. This, more than the cold, or the dampness, or even the persistent ache through nearly every inch of him, perturbed him. Who had taken his little shape away? It was HIS, damnit! Whoever it was would find themselves regretting it. Just as soon as he could open his eyes. With a Herculean effort, he pried first one eyelid open, and then the other...  
  
...and found himself staring up into a round, ruddy face with a shock of nearly white-blonde hair. Then next instant, he felt something hard and angular digging into his stomach, and then all was the sensation of drifting, bobbing up and down, still aware of the rain pelting down on him. Wait! Lucca! Where was she? Turning his head slightly, from his position thrown over the blond man's shoulder, he could see another man bending over her, examining her leg, shaking his head in disapproval over something. Were they criticizing the job he had done wrapping the wounds? Well, he had done the best he could! Just as he opened his mouth to tell them so, he felt himself overcome with an irresistible wave of weariness. Ah, well. Lucca was safe. He could rest.  
  
  
  
  
  
How long exactly he slept, he had no idea. Indeed, when asked afterwards, he would swear that he couldn't even remember being carried into the little tent, changed into dry garments, the style of which he had never seen before, and tucked into the bed pallet in the tent's corner. Yet here he was, in dry clothes, buried beneath several layers of warm, heavy quilts, with a small, warm creature nestled comfortably against his side. Quite forgetting to be enraged over the fact that someone must have changed his clothing while he was unconscious, he rolled his eyes.  
  
"Ugh," he commented eloquently. "I hope someone didn't let their dog on here."  
  
Pulling back the covers slightly, he was much relieved to see a familiar mass of purple hair spilling over his chest, to feel a pair of slender arms wrapped tightly about his waist. Catching this emotion before it could go too far, he reminded himself that the relief was due to the fact that it was Lucca rather than a slobbery, smelly dog snuggled against him. With a sigh, he detached the arms from around his waist and turned her over onto her back, tamping down an even stronger wave of anger at the fact that she was in a nightgown, and thus must have been changed while unconscious as well. His relief of a moment ago, as well as this anger, evaporated as he took in the hectic flush of her cheeks, and the over-brilliance of her eyes as she gazed up at him, disoriented.  
  
"Stay there and rest, alright?" he murmured, climbing from the bed pallet set low to the floor and checking her leg quickly. Someone had apparently cleaned and wrapped the wounds properly, and the swelling had gone down marginally.  
  
"Rest? You know, the wind never gets to rest. Am I a part of the wind? I think so...I can't rest if I'm a wind. But I'm tired..."  
  
"You aren't a wind, though," he assured her gently, brushing a strand of hair from her eyes and cursing inwardly. Apparently, her fever had become worse. This sort of prattle, even from her, could only be delirium. "You're Lucca. So go to sleep."  
  
"Lucca's a silly name for a wind. I think you're lying. If I stop blowing and sleep, then the flowers won't grow right, and the laundry won't dry, and then mother will be angry."  
  
"Shh," he commanded, putting a finger to her lips. "I'll be back soon."  
  
With that, he turned and left the tent hurriedly, sweeping aside a flap of material that covered the doorway.  
  
  
  
"Well, good day to you! So, you've begun to stir at last," a tall, wiry man observed, a friendly grin that must have been a mile long stretched across his face. As the wind blew a wisp of pale, nearly white blonde hair onto his sunburned forehead, he flicked it off and gestured to Magus to join him. Hesitantly, he did so, sliding onto one of the rough wooden benches that surrounded what appeared to be a large communal fire.  
  
"How're you feeling?" the blond man inquired.  
  
"Just fine. Lucca is another matter."  
  
"Ah. The young lady we found with you?"  
  
"Perhaps 'lady' is a bit of a stretch, but yes."  
  
The man chuckled gently at this. The words of this blue-haired stranger about the girl were less than kind, or even polite, but the small, unconscious smile playing about his lips, not to mention the way he had held her when they had been found, hunched over her as though to protect her from the storm, spoke volumes about the relationship between the two. Then he sobered.  
  
"Yes, well, you were both in a bad way when we found you. Unconscious, and when you did wake up for a minute, too delirious to tell me your names. Speaking of which, what's yours? Yer lady's named Lucca, obviously, so who're you?"  
  
"I'm...Janus," he replied carefully. To be sure, he was as yet uncertain if anyone here should have heard enough of Magus to loathe him, but it was never advisable to risk alienating the people who have been kind enough to take in and care for oneself and one's comrade, particularly when that comrade was, as this man had said, too delirious to know her own name.  
  
The man nodded.  
  
"Janus, eh? An interesting name. I'm Shandy."  
  
"Also rather interesting," Magus replied dryly.  
  
"A little embarrassing, but t'was after my Grandfather's favourite horse. His dying wish."  
  
"A name is a name, no matter who held it. But I'd like to ask, how did you find us?"  
  
"How did we find you? Well, my brother Miek and I were away from the camp for a time to hunt down his sons' dog. Those boys love that mutt, but they hate to see him tied up, and he will NOT stay put." He shook his head with a fond smile in the direction of a smallish ruddy brown dog with relentlessly perky ears and a stubby little tail rolling about on the ground, as though trying to wriggle free of the rope tied about his neck, confining him to a radius of six feet in any direction around a tree. Then Shandy turned back to the younger man. "At any rate, before we could find Jujo, we nearly tripped over you two, curled up under a tree, drenched from the rain, and not seeming to be going anywhere anytime soon. When we took a closer look, we could see that you were both ill. Your little woman, particularly; if we'd have left you, chances are, she'd have been dead before either of you woke up."  
  
"I...didn't realize it was so serious."  
  
"Bless you, she's fine now," Shandy hastened to assure him, catching the horror in the strangely crimson eyes. "My mother got you both dried off and somewhere warm, and she took care of those slashes on the girl's leg. Mind if I ask what happened there, by the way?"  
  
Magus sighed.  
  
"She...had a little run-in with a mountain lion."  
  
Shandy's eyes widened in disbelief.  
  
"A mountain lion?" he echoed. "How is it that you're both still alive?"  
  
"She...we'll tell you the story later, if it's all the same. Now, I'd like to ask a few questions."  
  
"Of course. What do you need to know?"  
  
"This will sound very odd, but...what is the year?"  
  
"How long you two been living in the mountains?" Shandy demanded, shaking his head. "It's 120 A.D."  
  
120. So, he hadn't needed to fear the hatred of these people toward Magus. It meant that he did, though, have to worry about the fact that Crono wouldn't likely think to check here, unless some clue had been left with the Epoch.  
  
"Close to a month, I believe. Have you any thoughts on the concept of time travel?"  
  
"Time travel?" the fair-haired man echoed, brow wrinkled.  
  
"Yes. We were sent to the mountains near here when the...machine we were repairing malfunctioned. It was a time machine, and that is why I asked the year."  
  
For several moments, Shandy said nothing, merely staring into the charred firepit before them and saying nothing. Finally, Magus continued with a roll of his eyes.  
  
"Alright, feel free to tell me that you think I'm insane."  
  
"No, no, I've heard stranger stories that have proven true. Believe me, the first thing my mother taught me is that you don't disregard anyone else's story offhand as insane, because those ones are most often true."  
  
"A wise woman," Magus noted with a chuckle.  
  
"Exceedingly. Your young lady friend is in good hands with her."  
  
"I'm glad to hear that."  
  
Shandy nodded, then peered curiously at the younger man.  
  
"So, are you expecting someone to come for you with this time machine?"  
  
"Yes, actually; as soon as they can find someone to repair it, we hope that Crono might think to come looking for us," Magus replied, opting against explaining to this man about the End of Time, where the rest of the group would doubtless have gone for help had they been unable to repair the Epoch, and the Gates. "Now," he continued briskly, "where exactly are we?"  
  
"As opposed to WHEN are we?" Shany chuckled. "Well, we are on a farm some ten leagues from Guardia Castle."  
  
"Guardia Castle?" Magus echoed. "Well, Lucca will be interested to know that, no matter WHEN she is, she can't seem to escape her home town."  
  
"Er...what home town is that?"  
  
"Er, Truce."  
  
"Truce? Never heard of it."  
  
"Ah. Perhaps Truce doesn't exist yet. But when it's built, it will be near Guardia Castle."  
  
"Mmm. Gotcha."  
  
"You're farmers, then?"  
  
"Yes, we are. My brother and I are farmers who, unfortunately, have never been able to scrape together the money to buy a farm of our own. Lucky thing, though, most farms around here are always wanting for good help - their wives around the yards, too - and so our families and us and a few friends - thirty of us altogether, all under the name of Kaerie - travel a circuit. The same one every year, from farm to farm, helping them out with the work in return for a bit of cash and land to camp on."  
  
"Oh. Yes, I've heard of families doing that before."  
  
"Anything else?"  
  
Magus thought carefully for a moment. There was one more question...oh, why not? After all, what had he to lose at this point?  
  
"Yes; why exactly is it that we were unable to use magic in the mountains?"  
  
"Magic?" Shandy echoed with a snort. "I'd say, 'cause this isn't some damn fairy-tale.' It's real life."  
  
Ah. Right. With an internal sigh, Magus cursed himself for forgetting that most people in this time, and indeed, for the last multiple thousands of years, had been unable to use magic. He stood.  
  
"Alright, never mind. Ah...it was nice talking to you."  
  
"Certainly was. And remember," Shandy continued, fixing Magus with a stern look, "you two are to stay with us until the little woman's well enough to travel again. Or until this mysterious friend of yours comes."  
  
"Hopefully, we won't have to impose for long," the sorcerer called over his shoulder as he strode back toward the tent that he had earlier left. Lucca would be interested to hear about all of this.  
  
Pulling back the sheet of canvas that hung over the door to the tent, Magus blinked several times, waiting for his eyes to readjust to the dimness. Then, making his way across the hard-packed earth, he knelt next to the bed pallet and searched for a patch of purple within the blankets of varying colours. Once he found it, after a bit of digging, he straightened the blankets, and sat at the side of the pallet, legs stretched out on the floor in front of him, watching her carefully.  
  
Almost as though sensing him there, from whatever faraway realm of dreams she was exploring, she snuggled closer to him, insinuating herself between his thigh and his hand where it rested there. By now used to the contact, he didn't pull away, and instead began to stroke her hair absently.  
  
They stayed that way for a long time, completely unaware of this or that wiry, sunburned creature creeping up to the doorway of the tent and peering in with an indulgent smile.  
  
Finally, Lucca began to stir slightly, turning over and gazing up at him through dim, unfocused eyes.  
  
"You're awake," he noted with a small smile, brushing her forehead gently. It was, he noted anxiously, almost uncomfortably warm to the touch.  
  
She blinked, then took a deep breath and shrank back from his hand.  
  
"I don't want to melt..." she whimpered, hiding her face against his leg.  
  
He frowned, staring down at her.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I don't want to melt! If I melt, I have to go back into the basket, and there are mean creatures in there with sharp claws."  
  
"Lucca...what are you talking about?"  
  
"Please! Don't let them send me back there!" she begged almost frantically, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.  
  
"Lucca! Calm down! No one is going to send you anywhere."  
  
"But you can't stop them...once you fall in the river you can't climb out until the river's end..."  
  
He shook his head. By now, she was near tears, and nearly incoherent with panic.  
  
"I don't want to go into the river. I want to stay here where it's warm..."  
  
At that, he slid an arm behind her neck and carefully set her back on the pillow, and then leapt to his feet and darted across the tent to the doorway.  
  
"Can I get someone to help us here?" he shouted out into the camp.  
  
A few members of the clan stopped their milling about, turned from their conversations, and watched with sympathetic, worried expressions, but none made a move toward the tent. One little boy turned, though, and started running across the camp and into another tent. The flap over the doorway fell shut, waved gently, and stilled for a moment. Then the child came bursting back out again, leading a tiny old woman, who seemed even shorter as she hunched over slightly to take the boy's hand. They crossed the camp, the crowd parting to let them through, until they came to where Magus was standing. With a careless sweep of her arm, she indicated for the tall man to stand aside and for the child to go, and swept aside the canvas to step inside the tent.  
  
"She's burning up, and she's prattling all sorts of nonsense," he informed the old woman once they were inside the tent.  
  
"Well, of course she's burning up," the tiny old creature noted, clucking her tongue in disapproval as she set about pulling the quilts away from the girl and stroking her back gently. As if by magic, at her touch, Lucca quieted, and ceased thrashing about. "You've got her covered with at least five quilts here! Why on earth would you cover someone with a fever, with so many blankets?!"  
  
"I didn't," Magus snapped. Gratefulness or not, he was not about to be spoken to in such a manner by this old hag.  
  
The woman looked thoughtful. Then a grin spread itself over her leathery, wizened, sun-browned face.  
  
"You're right; I did. Of course, you were both soaked to the skin and freezing to death at that point. Changed your clothes, too."  
  
Her grin turned wicked, and, although he tried to keep his expression neutral, he must have failed, for a moment later, she burst into laughter.  
  
"Don't worry. I didn't take an extra peek. Don'tcha know? Once a woman hits 65, she never has an urge again. 'Least, if you ask a man," she finished, rolling her eyes.  
  
Magus rolled his own.  
  
"Listen, thank-you for helping us, but-"  
  
"The name's Hannah, by the way."  
  
"Hannah. Shandy and Miek's mother?"  
  
"Yes, them two're my boys." She beamed with motherly pride over this, and Magus felt a small, barely perceptible tug deep within his chest. To have had a mother like this warm, cheerful old woman... He was fairly certain that his mother had never beamed with pride, motherly or otherwise, over him.  
  
"And you are?" she inquired humorously, a twinkle in her sunken grey eyes as she turned from.  
  
"What? Oh, I'm Janus, and she's Lucca."  
  
"Well, Janus, rather than hover around here and upset your wife, why not make yourself useful and run to get some cloths and some water from the well? One of the children will show you where to find what you need."  
  
At her words, he stopped still, and crossed his arms, ready to coldly inform her that her assumption had been mistaken. As he turned back to the bed pallet, though, his gaze lit on the young woman, her face flushed, eyes bright with fever, her small frame wracked with shivers as she whimpered softly, groping weakly for the precious blankets that had been so cruelly torn from her. His previous thought quite lost amid the ache of sympathy that seemed to be growing uncomfortably familiar as of late, he turned and left the tent.  
  
  
  
End Notes: Okay, I was getting REALLY sick of that mountain. I had, like, three backdrops to work with, and there's really only so much I could do with them. Hence the change of scenery. That, and I wanted them to be taken in by the Chrono Trigger version of gypsy-like caravan farmers. Tent-and- wagon farmers, if you will.  
  
Oh, yes; and in my world, the Epoch does not travel only to the five or six time frames that the characters go to in the game. That is how it was able to send them to 120 A.D.  
  
Huh...on a completely unrelated note, I think I can be changing the category from humour to drama or something anytime now. [Sighs] But then the first four chapters would seem really bizarre! Okay, once I have more dramatic chapters than funny chapters, I'll change it. But, being Rhianwen, that probably won't happen.  
  
Anyway, that's all for now, and thank-you so much to everyone who reads and reviews this chapter, and to everyone who has read and reviewed any of this story so far. [Huggles] :o) 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - Now I Just Need Some Stuff For It...  
  
  
  
Author's Notes: Yaay! AND we're back to humour! Once we get past a little bit of plot, that is. Eh, who am I kidding? I'll never be a drama writer, or an angst writer. [Sigh] Oh, well, the world needs clowns, too. [Big grin] Yaay! Ooh...start on a 'yaay,' end on a 'yaay.' That's gotta have some significance. Possibly that I'm nuts...  
  
  
  
Once through tending to Lucca, Hannah remarked later that evening to Shandy that it was quite a miracle that 'Janus' hadn't become sick, as well. To be sure, he hadn't been weakened by the effects of a mountain lion's attack; still, a very fortunate thing. Unfortunately, Hannah had apparently never heard of the idea that to remark on one's good luck is to jinx it.  
  
The next morning, Magus awoke, feeling quite as though someone had summoned down a comet of considerable mass right upon his head, and his joints gave an ache of protest every time he tried to move. He doggedly ignored this, dressing quickly and checking on Lucca, and then leaving the tent to report to Hannah that there had been no change in her fever, that she still seemed delirious, but that the gashes on her leg looked a little better. Once Hannah had bustled off to tend to the girl, Magus had turned to the man who she had been conversing with, and had introduced to him as Miek, and offered his assistance with whatever tasks needed doing as long as he and Lucca stayed. Miek, a silent, stoic fellow, had simply nodded and told him, in a rare show of talking, that he could help the men of the camp and the owners of the farm with the task of planting.  
  
And so, garbed in a suit of work-clothes borrowed from the husband of Miek and Shandy's sister, Magus made his way out to the fields along with all the other men of the Kaerie clan and set about the excruciatingly slow and excruciatingly boring work of planting. Although the ache in his limbs was growing worse, protesting loudly every time he tried to move, dizziness overtaking him periodically, long before the sun was high in the sky, he icily ignored both of these and focused his mind totally on the task at hand.  
  
However, when, around an hour into the afternoon, he abruptly turned a rather unhealthy shade of green and slumped, unconscious, to the ground, the other farmers began to notice that something was wrong, and began to wonder if he was feeling less than completely healthy.  
  
Hastily, Miek and his brother-in-law, Blair, had made their way to where the young blue-haired man lay, and together, carried him back to the camp, and into the tent that he and Lucca were currently occupying.  
  
Magus, of course, remembered nothing of this. He awoke some hours later to the sensation that something cold and damp was being pressed against his forehead. Deciding immediately that this sensation was quite an unpleasant one, he uttered an annoyed growl and swiped angrily at the brown, wrinkled hand that was administering the compress. A voice laughed gently.  
  
"You certainly aren't so compliant as your little wife there, are you?"  
  
Recognizing the voice immediately as Hannah, he made an effort to pry his eyelids open.  
  
"What...exactly happened?" he managed to croak out around a mouth that felt as though it were full of cotton.  
  
"From the beginning? You passed out in the fields, and some of the men carried you back here. You've likely got what Lucca's gettin' over. Turns out, I shouldn'ta blessed our luck so soon," she chuckled, removing the compress and handing him a mug of water. He accepted it gratefully and took a long drink, then handed it back to her.  
  
"I...I'm alright. I want to get up."  
  
"Get up?" Hannah echoed in disbelief. "You ain't goin' anywhere fer a few days, son."  
  
"I'm fine," he corrected firmly, "and I'm going to get up."  
  
"You're ill," Hannah replied, just as firmly, "and you're going to stay in bed. You can keep Lucca company."  
  
He surrendered, rolling his eyes as he flopped back against the pillow. Then he turned over on his side, propping himself up on one arm, and watched the young woman carefully for a time.  
  
"How is she, by the way?"  
  
"Improving," Hannah replied warily, glancing up from the task of remoistening the compress. "Fever's almost gone, though I imagine she'll still be awful miserable for the next few days."  
  
"Hmph," he replied, continuing to watch her. She seemed to sleeping as peacefully as she had been that morning. That, at least, was a good sign. "How's her leg?"  
  
"That might give her problems for years down the road," Hannah admitted uncomfortably.  
  
Magus frowned.  
  
"What?"  
  
"It'll trouble her, possibly for the rest of her life. Remember, the lion took a nice chunk out of her. She'll probably regain full use, but not completely without pain for months yet. Then, it'll probably hurt from time to time."  
  
"Well...couldn't magic cure something like that entirely?"  
  
Hannah sat back on her heels and regarded him strangely.  
  
"Magic?" she echoed. "Where exactly're you two from?"  
  
"Shandy hasn't mentioned, then?"  
  
"He said ye were living in the mountains."  
  
"Y-yes, but did he mention nothing about how we got there?"  
  
"Not a word. He did say that it was strange, and that you'd best tell me yourself, as he'd more likely than not leave things out and mistake others."  
  
"Ah. Likely for the best." He took a deep breath. "Do you...do you have any thoughts on the concept of time travel?"  
  
"Time travel...always wondered if a thing like that'd be possible," she admitted with a shrug. "S'how you got here, then?"  
  
"Yes. Lucca lives in the year 1000, in a small village that will be built, but doesn't exist yet, called Truce. I...I am from somewhere else. But we were both sent here from 1000, where we were traveling with a group. We became separated from them and were sent to the mountains here when Lucca made a failed attempt to repair our vehicle."  
  
"Mmm...go on," Hannah prompted, gazing absently at a spot on the floor. Something in her posture told him, though, that she didn't miss a word.  
  
"A-alright," he agreed, somewhat flustered. What else was there to tell? Ah! "Er, Hannah, there is one thing that puzzles me. I don't know if you'll be able to answer it; how knowledgeable are you on magic as a theoretical topic?"  
  
"I've been known to read a book here'n there," she replied carefully.  
  
"Ah. Then you might be able to help me. When we were dropped in the mountains, the first thing we noticed was that we were unable to use magic. Do you have any idea why?"  
  
"I do," she replied with a nod. "The mountains that you were sent to, they're something of a holy place to us. Your magic is kept out by a barrier. I've felt the barrier often enough. Far as I can figure, something else sealed the area against the rare human that can still use magic."  
  
"Mmm...I wonder what the point of that was."  
  
"To keep the area holy. Can't have you uppity magic-users desecrating it with your little party tricks," Hannah replied, expression grim, but a telltale twinkle in her eye.  
  
Magus was interrupted in the process of deciding whether to smile politely or roll his eyes by a soft voice calling out weakly.  
  
"...Magus?"  
  
The mage and the old healer woman turned abruptly to meet the puzzled blue eyes of a quite awake, quite lucid Lucca Ashtear.  
  
"Yes, what is it?" he demanded, schooling his features quickly from the relief that they had briefly assumed back into the stiff, slightly foreboding frown that came more naturally...but was, he noticed, coming less naturally as the days wore on.  
  
She struggled to push herself up into a sitting position, and here Hannah intervened, keeping her in place with a firm, capable hand.  
  
"No, you aren't to try to sit up yet, child. Rest a while more, or you'll wear yourself out and get sick again."  
  
Lucca seemed to accept this quite sanguinely.  
  
"...Okay."  
  
"How're you feeling?" the old woman asked, pulling back the sleeve of her red and white gingham blouse, sweeping aside a sweat-matted bang of purple hair and pressing her wrist to the pale forehead beneath it. "Still a little warm, but the fever's broke. You should be ready go get out of bed for an hour or so in a couple days."  
  
"An hour or so?" Lucca repeated incredulously, then blinked. "A couple of days?!"  
  
"Listen to Hannah," Magus instructed her firmly. "You can't rush these things."  
  
"Glad to hear you say that, sonny," Hannah cackled, "'cause you aren't getting out of bed for at least twice that."  
  
"What?! No way am I going to stay in here for four days!"  
  
"Listen to Hannah. You can't rush these things," Lucca snickered, a well- placed glare from Magus doing nothing to quiet her. "And anyway, just think how much fun we'll have. It'll be like an extended pyjama party. We can tell scary stories, and play Truth-or-Dare, and talk about the boys we like, and-"  
  
"Oh, will you shut up?!" he exclaimed impatiently.  
  
"For now," she agreed, winking at Hannah.  
  
The old woman grinned back widely, then climbed to her feet and brushed the dusst from her apron and drugget skirt.  
  
"Well, I'll go now and let you both get a little rest."  
  
Lucca, not exactly thrilled by this idea, rolled her eyes.  
  
"I've been resting for...um, how long have I been out?"  
  
"Two days, that I know of," Magus replied grimly.  
  
"And two before that," Hannah added.  
  
"Yeah! For four days! So, why do I have to keep resting, now that I've just woken up?"  
  
"Oh, hush now," Hannah admonished gently. "I've got to git about some business around the camp; the children are likely raising all shapes and sizes of Hell. I'll be back to check on you both in an hour. For now, sleep."  
  
With that, she turned and left the small tent, wondering to herself as she went exactly why the girl had called him by something other than Janus. She hadn't been able to make out exactly what it was... Ah, well, not exactly her business, she supposed.  
  
As the canvas flap fell back into place, Lucca gazed curiously about their surroundings. The space was, indeed, small, obviously meant only for sleeping, and not for living of any sort. Also, from the bare dirt ground, covered here and there by a pelt of some animal or another's fur, obviously a temporary dwelling. As for the furnishings, to say that they were sparse was an understatement. The only objects in the room aside from the bed pallet was a small chair, and the small bucket filled with water into which Hannah had put a few rags for cold compresses.  
  
"So," she finally began slowly, turning on her side to face her - she blushed pinkly at the thought - bed-mate, "where are we, anyway?"  
  
"Took you long enough to ask," Magus commented, one eyebrow lifting slightly.  
  
"Hey, it's somewhere warm, and out of the rain. And away from mountain lions. It wasn't really a pressing issue."  
  
"How do you know we haven't been kidnapped by some cannibalistic sect while weakened by the effects of a nap in the pouring rain?"  
  
"But...why would they have taken care of us for so long?"  
  
"Food preparation."  
  
"Hannah didn't strike me as a cannibal."  
  
"You can't always tell by looking," he objected with a hint of a smile.  
  
"Oh, c'mon! Hannah isn't really a cannibal...is she?"  
  
"No, of course not. Neither are the other twenty-nine people who live in this camp."  
  
"Thirty people! What a family!"  
  
"They aren't all related by blood. Hannah's two sons, Miek and Shandy, and their wives and children, a few sisters and their families, Hannah, of course, and some friends, all living under the name of Kaerie, travel a farming circuit throughout the year."  
  
"Wow...it sounds like they just sort of assimilate whoever they happen to find."  
  
"Hmph. Well, they can be certain enough that it won't happen to us."  
  
Lucca nodded emphatically.  
  
"But...do you know where we are?"  
  
"Yes, and when we are, too, if you're interested."  
  
"Of course!"  
  
"Alright; as it turns out, we have been sent nearly halfway around the world, and back 880 years."  
  
"Oh, brother," she sighed. "What in the hell did I do to the Epoch to make it send us here?"  
  
"I think Kaughnee had something to do with it."  
  
"Gods rest his soul," Lucca murmured.  
  
Magus smiled slightly, then glared at a strand of hair that would NOT stop tickling his nose. Hiding a smile of her own, she lifted a hand tentatively and brushed it aside. Catching her wrist, he moved her hand away, but then seemed to quite forget to let go of it, and instead ran his thumb repeatedly over the smooth skin. Then, with a sigh, he spoke.  
  
"You do realize that what this means is that Crono and the others will have absolutely no idea where to start looking for us."  
  
"Yeah...but maybe I set something on the Epoch to this year without thinking about it?"  
  
"That could be."  
  
"Or maybe they'll go to Gaspar for help."  
  
"We can always hope."  
  
"Yeah...hey, one more question."  
  
He raised one eyebrow.  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
"Uh.why do they have us together in one bed? Are they short a room?"  
  
She gazed expectantly at him, awaiting an answer, and was utterly bewildered as he blushed uncomfortably and looked away.  
  
"Er...it's not for lack of space. They...ah...somehow came up with the idea that we are married."  
  
"Oh!" Her blush matched his, and her gaze darted away from him. "Um...how did they come by that idea?"  
  
"I don't know," he assured her.  
  
"So...why didn't you correct them?" she asked mildly.  
  
He turned away from her, uncertain of exactly what in this questioned annoyed him so.  
  
"Hmph. Well, there were other concerns at the moment the subject came up. I couldn't take the time out to explain exactly what we are."  
  
"You mean, 'acquaintances and nothing more?'" she quoted coolly, flopping over on her side, facing the wall of the tent. "Well, whatever you tell them is fine with me, but remember, now that means we have to share a bed the entire time we're here."  
  
"Lucca," he sighed, rolling to face her and grasping her shoulder gently, "I think you know that you're more than an acquaintance."  
  
"Oh," she replied, carefully careless, "I'm just going by what you said before."  
  
"Yes, well, a lot's happened since then, hasn't it? Now," he commanded, "do as Hannah said and go to sleep."  
  
She began to say something, drawing in a deep breath, then seemed to think better of it.  
  
"Alright, fine. You too, okay?"  
  
"Not much else to do," he replied with a snort, releasing her shoulder and rolling onto his back.  
  
  
  
Although Magus did indeed take Lucca at her word, and fell asleep in a matter of minutes, Lucca found herself quite unable to sleep. She attributed this completely to the fact that she had been asleep for the last four days. Identifying the problem, though, did nothing to lessen it, and her brain remained quite annoyingly alert. She flopped onto her back with a sigh. Gods, hadn't they gotten themselves into a bizarre situation! First, they'd been turned temporarily into mountain-people, now they'd been taken in by Gypsies!  
  
'I don't know how the heck Crono and the others'll find us here...no, stoppit, Lucca! Thinking that way isn't gonna solve the problem! Anyway, I'm just glad I'm not in this alone.'  
  
With a small smile, she turned on her side to face Magus, recalling as she watched him sleep how she'd initially theorized that she'd be better off on her own than cooperating with him.  
  
'More likely, I'd be dead and lying in pieces all over the mountainside. Gods, if he hadn't shown up to distract the lion like that...'  
  
As she absently ran a hand over the thick bandage on her leg, trying to soothe the dull, throbbing pain, the memory of the paralysing terror that had filled her at that moment sent a sick, cold tremor down her spine. Another, less sick and cold, decidedly pleasant followed as the recollection of his reaction to finding her still alive ambled through her mind. Gods, that kiss...though she knew, or thought she knew, that it had born purely of relief that she hadn't been killed, that there had been nothing deeper to it, it would serve to fuel...improper dreams about him for a good long while.  
  
She shook her head with a rueful smile. Best not to travel that road. If thinking thoughts like that about a person while sharing a cave with them was uncomfortable, it would be unspeakably awkward to think them while sharing a bed.  
  
With a tiny sigh, she turned away, wishing that she wasn't quite so acutely aware of him stretched out next to her, that they weren't in quite so intimate a setting, and mostly, that being in this sort of setting with him didn't feel quite so...natural. Through the past weeks, though, they had grown accustomed to one another's company, to physical contact as well as proximity, and now it felt nearly strange not to be pressed closely against him, nestled between his arm and his chest.  
  
Ah, well, perhaps Crono would come for them sooner than later, and all would return to normal between them. She could go back to being afraid of him, interspersed with being vaguely annoyed by his arrogance, and he could go back to completely and utterly ignoring her.  
  
She REALLY wished that the thought of that wasn't as unwelcome as it was.  
  
  
  
The hour passed slowly for our unfortunate girl genius, as hours have a ghastly tendency to do when one has nothing to do but wait. When Hannah finally returned to check on them as promised, Lucca was caught between jubilation that she finally had someone to talk to (certainly, she could have woken up Magus, but this course of action might have proved dangerous, increased closeness and strengthened friendship or no), and annoyance that she was late - the time MUST have been longer than an hour!  
  
"Hannah! Where were you?" she demanded in a whisper that tried to be accusatory, but came across more petulant than anything else. Hannah laughed easily, kneeling by the edge of the bed pallet.  
  
"How're you feeling?"  
  
"Horrible," she replied sulkily. "I'm restless, and bored, and dirty and smelly - I haven't had a bath in at least a week - and I'm really, really not tired at all!"  
  
Hannah raised an amused eyebrow as Lucca punctuated this statement with a tremendous yawn.  
  
"That so?"  
  
"Yes!" she exclaimed, momentarily forgetting about the man sound asleep next to her. Then, flinching as he stirred slightly, and heaving a sigh of relief when he simply turned over and went back to sleep, she continued in a whisper. "I'm only yawning because the air in here is stale! If a person doesn't get fresh air, they start to yawn. It doesn't always mean you're tired!"  
  
The old woman blinked, then shook her head.  
  
"You're...a strange one, aren't you?"  
  
"Hmph!"  
  
"You're both strange enough, you and him," Hannah added, gesturing to Magus.  
  
"Yeah, but so are you," Lucca shot back triumphantly.  
  
"Never denied that."  
  
"Hannah, please let me get up! Even if it's just long enough to have a bath."  
  
Hannah wrinkled her nose thoughtfully, narrowing her eyes as she considered.  
  
"Oh, alright," she finally replied reluctantly, but with a telling humorous warmth in her eyes. "I don't know that I want to take care of you smelling the way you do right now, and I do know that sharing a bed with you can't be pleasant for poor Janus."  
  
"Hannah!" Lucca exclaimed in a whisper, glaring at the wickedly chortling elderly woman. "It isn't MY fault!"  
  
"I know, dear, I know. I was just teasing," Hannah assured her, climbing to her feet and reaching carefully over the blue-haired man, still sound asleep, to help Lucca into a sitting position. From here, they contrived, if awkwardly, to get her into a standing position, and Hannah held her arm tightly as she stepped carefully over the prone shape on the bed pallet. All this went without incident. Until, that is, Lucca stepped forward on her injured right leg. Then, with a cry of pain, she stumbled, and her left foot connected, not particularly gently, in fact, rather roughly, with Magus's backside.  
  
"Oh, crap!" Lucca yelped as she began to fall forward. Choking back a laugh, Hannah caught her easily and set her back upright again. Then, as one, they turned to check on whether or not the young man had been woken up by this sudden and unexpected attack on him.  
  
He murmured in protest, then turned over on his back and quieted again.  
  
"Wow," Hannah noted, impressed. "He can sleep through a lot."  
  
"I hope he doesn't wake up with a bruise and wonder where it came from..." Lucca added anxiously.  
  
"Wouldn't worry about it, if I were you," Hannah replied, wrapping an arm around her waist to support her. "Every man needs a good kick in the ass sometimes."  
  
"True..." the young woman agreed, putting a finger to her lip thoughtfully. "But isn't it more fun if he's awake for you to enjoy it?"  
  
They left the tent amid Hannah's laughter at this statement. Although neither realized it, a pair of eyes followed them. A pair of red eyes, still foggy with sleep.  
  
"Oh, don't think I won't get you for that 'kick in the ass,' four-eyes," he murmured with a devious smirk. Then, with an expression somewhat resembling a pout, he rubbed the sadly abused portion of his anatomy. "...Ow."  
  
  
  
"Wow! I feel about ten million times better!" Lucca exclaimed, rolling up the sleeves of a blouse borrowed from Hannah's granddaughter, Emma, and tugging a comb through her freshly washed hair.  
  
"Good. Does that mean you'll go back to sleep now?" Hannah inquired indulgently, leaning against the tin bathtub that they had dragged into her own tent.  
  
"Do I have to?" Lucca pouted. "Hey, by the way, did something happen to my glasses?"  
  
Hannah stood and walked over to a burlap sack nestled against a corner of the tent.  
  
"No, we've got 'em with the rest of your things." She reached into the bag and fished out the small object. "Not gonna do you much good if you're going right back to sleep, though."  
  
"Oh, fine," the purple-haired youth sighed in resignation. "But can I have that nightgown back? I don't want to wrinkle this stuff up when Emma was nice enough to lend it to me."  
  
"Nightgown?" Hannah echoed. "I suppose, though I don't know why you need one in this warm weather."  
  
"Um..." Lucca began uncomfortably, flushing a bright red as she groped for a way to explain why she absolutely could NOT do what the woman was suggesting without giving away the fact that she and Magus were not, as they had assumed, married. "I don't think that's...well, I...um..."  
  
"Well, if it bothers you that much, I'll find you something. But we'll get a fresh one, eh? The other one needs to be washed. Badly."  
  
"Th-thanks."  
  
"No problem," Hannah assured her, fixing her with a concerned gaze. "But what's causing the bashfulness?"  
  
"I...uh, well, we're..."  
  
"Having problems? Got married before you realized that you're too young to be a wife yet? Well, I've a lot of respect for both of you, sticking it out. It will get easier, believe me, child."  
  
"Er, thank-you."  
  
"If you need to talk more, let me know. Now, go back to sleep. You remember which tent you're in?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Good. Then run along. I'll find you another nightgown."  
  
With a nod, Lucca took the glasses that Hannah held out, then left the tent. Smiling politely when one of the spattering of people milling about greeted her, she made her way across the open space in the middle of the ring of tents to the one on the other side of the massive fire pit.  
  
She lifted the flap and slipped into the tent silently, then sat cross- legged on one of the rugs in the middle of the floor to wait for Hannah. Absently, she fiddled with the deep wine red wool of the long skirt she had been given to use while she was here. Then, with a soft growl of annoyance, she slid the loose neckline of the blouse she had been given along with the skirt back up. Who cared if it was supposed to be worn on the shoulders? It seemed to have the ghastly tendency to slide much lower in front than it was supposed to be, and it was easier to wear the stupid thing the wrong way than to deal with the inevitable embarrassment of looking down to find the neckline resting somewhere around her waist.  
  
At an amused chuckle from across the room, she whirled about. Struggling into a sitting position, Magus smirked back.  
  
"You're awake, huh?" she noted.  
  
"Yes, it would seem so," he replied dryly. "I could take a very great leap and say that you are, too."  
  
"Yeah, unless I took sleep-walking to a whole new level."  
  
"Hmph. Where exactly did that come from?" he asked, gesturing at the skirt and blouse.  
  
"Borrowed it from Emma."  
  
"Ah. Hold on," he continued with a frown, resolutely tearing his gaze from her slender shoulders, nicely exposed as the wide, loose neckline slid back off of them. "How did you manage to weasel out of staying in bed for two more days?"  
  
She smirked.  
  
"I have my ways."  
  
"Oh? And what are those?"  
  
"Whining until Hannah gave in," she announced proudly."  
  
"...Really."  
  
"No. Actually, Hannah said it was because she didn't want to take care of me smelling like I did, so she let me up long enough to have a bath."  
  
"Hmph. And just how did she imagine I felt, having to share a bed with you?"  
  
"Yeah," she admitted, "that was the other reason she let me get up."  
  
"And it's a good thing. Much longer, and you would have found yourself sleeping outside."  
  
"Oh, you don't exactly smell like spring roses yourself," she informed him icily. "More like the manure that they put on them for fertilizer."  
  
"Shut up," he growled.  
  
"Or you'll what?" she taunted with a wicked grin.  
  
"Keep pushing, and you may find out."  
  
"You don't have the guts to do anything!"  
  
"Recall if you will, bookworm, that I 'didn't have the guts' to throw you into that river, either," he requested calmly with an unreadable expression, folding back the covers and climbing from the bed pallet.  
  
Her stomach clenching in a potent combination of fear and...something else that she could quite discern, she leapt to her feet and backed up quickly, her head spinning ever so slightly as he approached.  
  
Somewhere along the way, though, she forgot to keep backing up as her eyes met his, a bolt of heat arrowing through her at the unmistakable spark that flickered into his eyes. Mesmerized, she stared unblinkingly, blue eyes meeting crimson, and her breath came more quickly, lips slightly parted, as he ran a hand over her billowy cotton sleeve and over her shoulder.  
  
"Wh-what...?" she stuttered inanely.  
  
One corner of his mouth lifting in a small smile, his hand slid behind her head, playing absently with the fine hairs along the back of her neck.  
  
"Must you always ask so many questions?"  
  
"Well, sure. It's the best way to learn things."  
  
"Some things can be expressed better through action than word," he murmured, tilting her head back with a finger beneath her chin, and lowering his mouth to hers.  
  
With an incoherent whimper in the back of her throat, she slid her hands back into his hair. Immediately, his arm tightened around her waist, pulling her more tightly against him. The sound of cloth against cloth as she ground her hips instinctively against his. With a muffled groan, he sucked her lower lip between his teeth and bit down gently. She gasped, startled by the curious way that pain and pleasure seemed to mingle, and her tongue darted out, sliding along his lip. His own tongue met and captured hers, and both were lost amid a sea of sensation, eagerly exploring and duelling.  
  
With a noise caught somewhere between a moan and a purr, she ran her hand down his back, massaging absently. His hands were far from still, one tangled in her hair, and the other slowly moving down, over her shoulder, and to the neckline of her blouse. Grasping the fabric, he gave a quick tug, tearing his mouth from hers and placing a scalding kiss on the juncture between her neck and shoulder, his teeth raking lightly over the soft flesh.  
  
"Oh, Gods..." she gasped as his hand meandered down to cover her breast.  
  
Suddenly, just as it seemed that this chapter would, in fact, turn into a lemon and move up a rating or two, a brisk voice called out from the doorway, shattering the heat between them into oblivion.  
  
"Lucca, I've found you a...oh!"  
  
They pulled apart quickly, their faces flooded with similar shades of red as the young woman pulled her blouse back up into place and the young man looked away, uncomfortably aware of the fact that his pants were suddenly uncomfortably tight.  
  
"Well!" Hannah grinned. "It seems as though you're getting over those problems, eh? But if I'm not mistaken, I think I recall telling YOU to rest," she finished, fixing Magus with a piercing glare. "That means, no strenuous activity!"  
  
"Oh, geez, Hannah, we..."  
  
"You've got the devil's own sense of timing, old woman," Magus interrupted, his ordinary composure falling back into place.  
  
The 'old woman' laughed heartily at this.  
  
"There'll be plenty of time when you both aren't recovering from illness any longer. So Lucca, be a good girl and put on this new nightgown I've found for you, and go back to bed. And Janus," she continued sternly, "you had better go back to bed too, if you don't want a good, square kick in the ass."  
  
Neither knew that Magus caught the significant grins that flashed between them, nor that his resolve to get revenge for the previous 'good square kick in the ass' hardened as he observed them.  
  
With one final command that both go back to bed and stay there this time, Hannah handed Lucca a thin white garment and exited the tent.  
  
Lucca sighed.  
  
"Okay, this is gonna sound stupid after...um...y'know, but could you turn around while I change?"  
  
Taking in her pleading gazed, Magus gazed back impassively for a moment, then turned away.  
  
After yanking the blouse up over her head and sliding off the long wool skirt, Lucca folded both garments as neatly as she knew how, set them on the chair in the corner, placed her glasses carefully on top of the pile, and tugged the simple cotton shift on over her head. Then she scrambled quickly into the bed and faced the wall, unmoving.  
  
"Can I look yet?" called a dry voice.  
  
"Oh! Sorry! Yeah, I'm done," she replied sheepishly.  
  
She heard the rasp of fabric against fabric as he lifted the covers and climbed beneath them. Then, as he wrapped his arm about her waist, she fought the urge to tense up and pull away. After a moment, though, she was able to relax against him, and noted contentedly that he was nice and warm and smelled of sandalwood and woodsmoke and ever so faintly of the spicy scent of wet fern. Or maybe she was just really tired and imagining it. One of the two.  
  
After a long while, she shifted in his arms, turning onto her back to gaze up at him.  
  
"Magus?" she ventured timidly.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What was that all about?"  
  
"...I don't know. Look, go to sleep, Lucca. We'll talk about it when we wake up."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Okay. G'night."  
  
"Actually, four-eyes, it's still afternoon."  
  
"Fine, then! Good afternoon. When did you get so picky with semantics, anyway?"  
  
"Go to sleep, Lucca," he reiterated firmly.  
  
"Fine," she grumbled, stifling a yawn.  
  
With an uncommonly warm smile, he wrapped his arm more tightly around her and closed his eyes.  
  
Yes, what HAD that been all about?  
  
Resolving firmly to carefully analyze the situation before they spoke of it again, Magus drifted slowly back to sleep, uncomfortably certain that her warmth and the faint scent of her hair would worm their way into his dreams more vividly than usual.  
  
  
  
  
  
End notes: Hoo, man, that was random! Oy! Please forgive me for the utterly ghastly cheesy love scene parodyesque...thing at the end. I don't know what happened! I think they took over and wrote that part themselves.  
  
Magus: [Contemptuous snort] Well, what did you expect?  
  
Lucca: Yeah, Rhianwen! Geez! Seven chapters, and only one kiss?!  
  
Rhianwen: [Sounding offended] And a lot of sexual tension!  
  
Magus: Oh, wonderful. There's a reason they call it 'tension,' you know.  
  
Rhianwen: [Sounding more offended] AND a vaguely erotic dream sequence!  
  
Magus: Hmph! Just a cheep excuse to go into a round of pointless description of me naked and dripping wet.  
  
Rhianwen: [Cheerfully] Yup!  
  
Lucca: Well, I'M not complaining...  
  
All the female forest critters: Yeah, neither are we!  
  
  
  
Uh...anyway... Thanks for reading! Please review, if you've got a second and anything kind and/or helpful to say. Or anything else, for that matter. I'm not picky when it's feedback. [Huggles] :o) 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 - The End Draweth Nigh! Shut up, Frog!  
  
  
  
Author's Notes: At last! At last! I'd begun to wonder if this poor little 123-page story was going to sit in stasis forever. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and I will endeavour to have Chapter 10 up before the cows come home. [Glances out the window to see a herd of cattle approaching] Uh-oh...  
  
  
  
And now, oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon with the chapter!  
  
  
  
  
  
"Wow! What a beautiful day!" Lucca exclaimed, skipping over the dusty earth of the Kaeries' campsite in a manner that would have made approximately 98% of the people who knew her rub their eyes in disbelief.  
  
Magus rolled his eyes and hurried to catch up with her, his longer stride accomplishing this easily.  
  
"After the time you've spent indoors, Lucca, the middle of a blizzard would seem like a beautiful day."  
  
"No, no, it really is nice out today," she insisted, sniffing appreciatively at the air. Then, as an energetically wriggling little red- brown shape caught her eye, she broke into a run, exclaiming in delight. "Oh, a puppy!"  
  
The tall blue-haired man watched in consternation, with just a hint of a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth, as Lucca threw herself down in the dirt beside the little creature, Jujo, if he remembered correctly, encouraging it to come to her. Apparently, Jujo was either very much a people-dog, or didn't get the company he would have liked, for he went to the violet-haired teen without a second of delay. With a giggle, she enclosed the dog in a tight hug.  
  
"Aw, he's a cutie! So cuddly and friendly! Huggles!"  
  
"...Huggles," Magus repeated slowly. Then he turned to leave.  
  
"Hey! Where are you going?" Lucca demanded, arms still around Jujo, who was gazing at Magus as confusedly as Lucca was.  
  
"If you, of all people, are using words like..." He shook his head. "...huggles, you're obviously delirious. So, I am going for Hannah to tell her that you need to stay indoors for another few days."  
  
"Don't you dare!" she expostulated, bouncing up from the ground, much to the indignation of Jujo, who found himself forgotten.  
  
"Merely for the good of your health, bookworm," Magus assured her with a smirk.  
  
He continued toward Hannah's tent, unheeding of her commands to stay put. And so, Lucca resorted to desperate measures. She darted after him, caught his arm, and yanked him back and around to face her.  
  
Then, as she became acutely aware of the leanly muscular chest directly at her eye-level, close enough that she could, with little effort, snuggle comfortably against him, all her brilliant comebacks were forgotten as her cheeks grew red and she hastened to look away.  
  
The moment stretched out intolerably, with both of them simply standing there, alternately trying not to look at each other, and sneaking quick peeks when they thought the other wasn't aware.  
  
"Magus," she finally spoke up softly, "we were...um...going to talk about what happened yesterday, right?"  
  
With a sigh, he began to answer, when a third voice spoke up from behind him, quite startling both from their conversation.  
  
"Oh, there you both are! Well, if you're so keen to help out, c'mon and help us! We've plenty of work to go around!"  
  
"Hello, Hannah," Lucca greeted with a weak smile.  
  
Hannah grinned back, gladdened to the core of her warm, motherly, nearly over-protective heart to observe the slight stain of colour in the girl's cheeks. It meant that she was nearly over whatever it had been that she'd had. The young man, too, seemed to be gaining back a little colour. Of course, Hannah had no way of knowing that he never had colour at the best of times.  
  
Who knew? Maybe the faint blush on both of them meant, as well as increasing health and strength, that they were taking further steps to...improving a troubling and troubled marriage. Perhaps, then, Hannah reflected with a wicked smile, it might have been best to make the two stay in bed another day, but forcibly divest both of pyjamas, claiming that it was merely for heath reasons - after all, one couldn't be too careful with fever...  
  
Upon witnessing the...activities of the two the previous afternoon, the old woman had informed 'Janus' and Lucca that evening, with understanding laughter behind her surprisingly sharp brown eyes, that she thought they were well enough to get out of bed after a good night's sleep. The suggestive wink that she had aimed at Lucca on the word 'sleep' had flooded the young woman's face with a fiery blush, and 'Janus' had smirked at her obvious discomfort.  
  
All in all, there was something rather strange about their relationship. They certainly couldn't have been married long, if the thought of sharing a bed with him without a nightgown had filled the girl with such embarrassment. At the same time, though, they didn't relate to one another as two people would who had just met. Hannah knew already that Lucca was not a terribly social person, and was incredibly uncomfortable around those she had just recently met. And she definitely hadn't been relating to Janus as though she had just met him.  
  
And as for Janus - well, if Lucca was unsociable, Janus was at least doubly so. To be sure, he had treated her, Hannah, as well as Miek and Shandy with the utmost respect, but she had a hunch that that had more to do with the debt of gratitude he felt he owed to her two sons for getting them to safety.  
  
Even through his politeness, through his slightly forced cordiality, his dark mood was clear to all who spoke to him. Only when he was around his wife did it seem to evaporate. And, Hannah reflected, she would have bet her right arm and her left that this was not a fellow who tended to let people get close to him quickly.  
  
These contrasts seemed to Hannah odd in the extreme. She had assumed an arranged marriage, with both of them finding themselves neatly wedded before they'd had a chance to shake hands. It seemed, though, that this was not the case. Perhaps they'd been friends beforehand? But then, would they not have made a transition from friends to lovers BEFORE being married?  
  
Ah, well, she finally told herself with a firm shake of her head, it was hardly her business until either Janus or Lucca decided to confide in her, and that didn't seem likely. And anyway, there was work to be done, tasks to be assigned.  
  
"Alright, you two," she began. "I've decided where we'll put you. Lucca, we've plenty for you to do here, around the camp. Someone's got to watch the children while the rest of us girls run over to the farmhouse and help the farmer's wife and daughters with their work. Emma and Moira'll stay with you, so just let them know if you run into trouble."  
  
Lucca nodded. She hadn't met Moira yet, but she had spoken briefly with Emma, a slight, pale, quiet young woman, very peaceful and kindly of disposition. They had gotten along well, and the thought of spending the day working with her was pleasant.  
  
"And Janus," Hannah continued, eyeing the young man sternly, "we'll send you to the fields with the men this morning, but if you're feeling ill, you're to come back in immediately, and we'll set you to work with Emma, Moira, and Lucca."  
  
"Hmph," Magus commented eloquently, vowing that this most degrading of situations would not come to pass. "I don't think that will be necessary."  
  
"Just saying, if it is," the old woman shrugged.  
  
"It won't."  
  
"Very well," Hannah replied, hiding a smile. "Alright, then! I'll see you two later."  
  
With that, she lifted her skirts a little and started on the path leading out of the camp, presumably to the farmhouse.  
  
Lucca watched her go, blinking in bewilderment.  
  
"Y'know, I really don't think that a woman over sixty-five should have more energy than I do."  
  
"Hannah's a rare soul," Magus replied. From his tone, one could not have told for the life of them if this were a positive or a negative quality.  
  
"You got that right!" Lucca giggled. Then, abruptly, she grew serious. "Um...Magus?"  
  
"It'll have to wait until later, alright? I've got little handfuls of seeds to fling all over the place," he sighed, rolling his eyes slightly.  
  
"Biology metaphor," the purple-haired teen snickered. "Icky."  
  
"Oh, shut up!"  
  
"Well, you go have fun planting your seed."  
  
Shooting the wildly giggling young woman one last death-glare, he departed for the fields.  
  
  
  
  
  
Although neither was unaccustomed to putting in a hard day of work, being ill and neatly confined to a bed for close to a week doesn't tend to work wonders on a person's endurance level. As such, combined with the mental strain of the events of the previous night bouncing through their minds, the long, unseasonably warm day following the steady rain took its toll on both of them, and left them both less receptive, less understanding, and altogether less agreeable than they might have otherwise been. Perhaps all of this was partly to blame for the rather disastrous attempt at a conversation that was to follow. Or perhaps not. Perhaps both of these nice young people are simply inept at discussing emotions.  
  
  
  
  
  
'Well, that's the last time I take HIS word for anything,' Lucca thought bitterly several hours later, glaring after Magus's retreating back. 'I ask him what it was about, he says we'll talk about it 'tomorrow.' And like an idiot, I go and think that means we'll actually talk about it!'  
  
With a sigh, she tried unsuccessfully to stop the scene that had just transpired from bouncing through her head on an infinite loop.  
  
Lucca had been sent to help Emma and Moira with hanging the laundry, while Magus had been sent back to the fields to help with the planting.  
  
Around the middle of the afternoon, when the men had come in for a brief respite from their task, she had seen him approaching, and, recalling how several things had been left up in the air, had informed Moira that she would return soon, had blushed at the knowing smiles she had received from the other women when they had followed her line of vision to the blue- haired man walking in from the fields, and had made a point to be around when he took a seat on one of the benches that surrounded the massive firepit in the center of the Kaeries' camp site.  
  
"Hey," she called, approaching quickly and sliding onto the bench next to him.  
  
"Hello," he greeted, not looking up from a patch of grass growing sparsely amid the dry, dusty earth.  
  
"So...how's it going?"  
  
"How is what going?" he asked, annoyed.  
  
"Well...planting."  
  
"I've told you about this. We are on the part of the job that involves throwing down handfuls of seeds and covering them up. How do you think it's going?"  
  
"Boring as all hell?"  
  
"Something like that," he replied, smiling faintly.  
  
"So, Robo was lying when he said that the four-hundred years of helping Fiona plant her forest didn't seem long at all?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"But then again, you aren't a robot," she continued with a rather wild laugh. Well, at least she could blame this inane rambling on nervousness...  
  
"...No, I'm not," he agreed, peering at her as though she'd gone suddenly insane.  
  
"Eheh...yeah, pegging laundry and shelling peas is pretty boring, too," she rushed on. "Looking after the children is alright - at least it's not routine, and the kids are a lot of fun."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
Lucca sighed. Obviously, small-talk was NOT going to work. Of course, that shouldn't really have been a surprise to her - he WAS still Magus, after all...  
  
"Er...Magus," she began, lowering her voice and sliding closer to him on the bench. "What exactly happened last night - afternoon?"  
  
"I don't want to discuss this right now," he declared, standing abruptly and starting away.  
  
"But...you said we would today!"  
  
He turned and stared at her coldly.  
  
"Not right now."  
  
"And you said this morning that we would later today!"  
  
"Lucca, I just finished saying-"  
  
"Oh, no! You're not getting out of this that easily!" she shot back, leaping from the bench and starting after him.  
  
"Getting out of what?" he demanded, turning away.  
  
As she reached him, she ran around in front of him, effectively blocking his path.  
  
"You promised that we'd talk about what happened!"  
  
Gritting his teeth, he caught her upper arm in a tight grip and shoved her to the side.  
  
"Not. Right. Now," he reiterated, slowly and deliberately.  
  
Regaining her balance, she had watched, stung, as he stalked away without another look in her direction.  
  
And now, here she was, glaring after his retreating back, replaying the scene despite her greatest efforts not to.  
  
"Lucca!" a high, feminine voice called.  
  
She turned and smiled weakly at Moira, who was jogging toward her, long sugar-brown curls bouncing merrily against her plump white shoulders, a concerned look on her round, ruddy face.  
  
"Oh, hi, Moira," she greeted.  
  
"What's wrong? You look like you're gonna cry, and then kill something!" Moira frowned suspiciously. "That man of yours say something to you? 'Cause if he did, you know we'll kill him for you. Husband or not, we won't just sit here and let him make you cry. And NO man's a match for a group of girls..."  
  
"Thanks for the offer, Moira," Lucca replied, choking back a laugh at the knowledge that, judging by her ferocious glare, Moira likely wasn't joking. "But there's really nothing to worry about."  
  
"You sure?" the brunette asked warily.  
  
"Pretty sure."  
  
Moira shrugged.  
  
"Well, alright. Now, c'mon. The kids and Emma and I need another player for football."  
  
"Eheh...football?" Lucca repeated nervously.  
  
"Sure! S'what we always do to keep the kids busy before supper!"  
  
"Y'know, Moira, I'm not big on sports; I think I'll just watch."  
  
"Oh, c'mon! You've got to play! You know that Keith won't leave you alone until you do..."  
  
Suppressing a groan, Lucca admitted to herself that this was quite true. Shandy's youngest son, the seven-year old Keith, had taken immediately to Lucca, and likely wouldn't let her have a moment's peace until she had agreed to join the game.  
  
"Heh...I guess I don't have a choice."  
  
"Don't worry! It's easy. You'll catch on in no time."  
  
Lucca sighed gloomily as she followed Moira into a flat, grassless area of land apparently set aside for such sports. 'Famous last words...'  
  
  
  
  
  
"I hate sports!" that same Lucca whimpered for the sixth time in an hour as she executed a perfect nose-dive directly into the hard, dusty earth and proceeded to skid merrily along on her stomach for twenty feet, an enthusiastically shouting seven-year old boy on top of her.  
  
"Hah! What a rush! That was great!" Keith bellowed. "Point!"  
  
"Yaay!" little Maisy chirped, bouncing about energetically, her twin braids of golden hair flopping against her shoulders.  
  
"There's an elbow in my spine," Lucca informed the world at large, twisting about to glare at Keith.  
  
"Haha! Suckers!" Keith laughed, climbing off of her and making a big show about tossing the ball past the two garbage cans serving as a 'net.'  
  
Moira pouted.  
  
"Great! Now we're down by THREE points! Lucca, are you sure you want to be the goalie?"  
  
"No! I already told you, I don't want to play this at all!"  
  
"But then we'll be short a player," Emma reminded the purple-haired genius, peeling her from the ground and dusting the bits of dirt off of her front.  
  
"Fine," Lucca pouted. "Then yeah, someone else be the goalie and teach me how to do something else."  
  
"Great!" Moira chirped, bouncing into the 'net.' "Lucca, all you've got to do is run around after the ball and try to kick it into the other team's net."  
  
"Uh...okay. I just have one question," Lucca announced.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"What is the point of this?"  
  
Keith ceased his gloating momentarily.  
  
"It's FUN!"  
  
"Of course it is," Lucca sighed, taking her place on the field beside Emma, and opposite Maisy.  
  
And the game continued.  
  
  
  
"I hate sports!" Lucca whimpered for the seventh time in an hour as the ball flew out of her hands, and she found herself once again skidding along the ground on her stomach under the combined weight of Keith and Maisy.  
  
"Alright, now go get the ball, Maisy!" Keith urged his cousin, who promptly scrambled off of Lucca, embedding a tiny foot deeply in her back ribs in the process.  
  
"Ow," the prone shape on the ground sighed as Keith followed suit, delivering an involuntary kick to the back of her skull.  
  
"Having fun, are you?" a voice inquired lightly from several feet away.  
  
"I hate sports," she explained, lifting her head from the ground just enough to shoot Magus a piteous gaze, touched with the faintest hint of anger, just to let him know that she hadn't forgotten about his utter refusal to talk to her earlier. Ah, well, she had learned well enough. She would not bring it up again until he did, and...oh...wow...  
  
"I can see that," he replied with a smirk.  
  
Lucca said nothing, temporarily silenced by the sight before her. Apparently, the afternoon had been long, hard, and considerably warm, for the heavy tunic that he had left the camp in that morning was now tied around his waist, an a faint sheen of sweat clung to the defined muscle of arms and chest.  
  
Taken aback by the lack of any rejoinder, he gazed curiously at her wide eyes and partially open mouth...  
  
...and then chanced to look down and notice his state of partial undress.  
  
Reddening slightly, he chose to cover it by approaching, crouching next to her, and hoisting her carefully from the ground.  
  
"Heh...thanks," she finally managed to choke out, uncomfortably aware of the sudden silence that had fallen over the previously lively football field as he aided her in brushing the fine layer of dust from the heavy burgundy wool of her skirt.  
  
Even without looking, she could sense the intent stares and knowing grins of the children, Moira, and Emma.  
  
The silence was broken by a piercing wolf-whistle.  
  
"Keith!" Emma and Moira chorused, falling sadly short of the stern tones they were doubtlessly shooting for.  
  
Magus shot all three offenders a most scathing glare, and then turned back to Lucca.  
  
"At any rate, I was just sent by Hannah to let you all know that you're to come wash up for supper."  
  
With that, he turned and started toward the pump situated just outside of the circle of tents that comprised the camp.  
  
  
  
"How cute!" Moira sighed, hands clasped and eyes shiny.  
  
"Hey, knock it off!" Lucca commanded amid the giggles of both young women.  
  
With a wicked wink that let Lucca know that she had no intention of 'knocking it off,' Moira turned to the group of children gathered behind them.  
  
"Alright, off with you all! You heard the man! Go wash up for dinner!" she bellowed at a volume that made Emma and Lucca wince simultaneously.  
  
Then she turned back to Lucca, rearranging her skirts as she seated herself on the ground and motioned for the other two to follow suit.  
  
"Y'know, you two act really weird for a married couple..."  
  
"Yeah, well, there's a story behind that..."  
  
"Gran said she thought it was an arranged marriage or something."  
  
"Er...no..."  
  
"Lucca," Emma put in quietly, "are you two really married?"  
  
"...No," she admitted slowly. "But you can't mention it to anyone! For some really weird reason, Mag - er, Janus wants to keep everyone believing that we are!"  
  
"Oh, right. A REALLY weird reason..." Moira remarked sarcastically, grinning hugely at Emma.  
  
"Guys! Knock it off!" Lucca protested, blushing hotly.  
  
"You should marry him for real," Moira told her firmly.  
  
Lucca rolled her eyes, praying that her discomfort would be thus covered.  
  
"What?! That's crazy."  
  
"Not really," Emma put in quietly with her trademark tranquil smile. "I think the two of you would be quite happy."  
  
"We'd kill each other in the first twelve hours and - oh, what am I talking about?! Look, we TOLERATE each other. That's it!"  
  
Wasn't it?  
  
"Oh, really," Moira said, eyebrow lifting. "Then why exactly did Gran come back from your tent yesterday with a strange tale about how she'd caught you in the middle of...well, continuing your line, so to speak?"  
  
"We were NOT doing that!"  
  
"You were getting close to it, then."  
  
"...Maybe," Lucca admitted after a long pause, staring fixedly at the ground as a rush of colour flooded her cheeks.  
  
"Hey, who can blame you?" Moira demanded. "The man is damn good-looking!"  
  
Emma giggled at the strange noises coming from their new purple-haired friend as she attempted to swallow away her nervousness and ended up choking instead.  
  
"He certainly is," she added with a relish.  
  
Lucca choked even more.  
  
"Emma!"  
  
Stealing a quick sideways glance at Lucca, a devious expression crossing her face, and shooting Emma a quick wink, Moira spoke up.  
  
"Why, if it weren't for Jaren" she sighed, eyes softening at the thought of her soon-to-be husband several miles away, "I'd go after him in a second."  
  
"Oh, would you?" Lucca demanded viciously, then inwardly smacking herself upside the head at what she had just said, to the only people who knew that she really wasn't married to him.  
  
"Well, now, we don't like that idea one little bit, do we?" Emma giggled.  
  
"Even though we don't want him for ourselves," Moira added.  
  
"Guys!"  
  
"She gets flustered so easily," Emma remarked to Moira.  
  
"And it makes her so much fun to tease!" Moira added.  
  
"Guys!!"  
  
"Yes, Lucca?" Emma asked, infuriatingly sweet.  
  
"Stop it! And swear that you won't tell anyone we aren't really married!"  
  
"Of course not," Moira agreed, winking at Emma. "After all, it probably won't be long before you really are..."  
  
"Moi-ra!"  
  
"Hehehe! Alright, we'll stop roasting you. Now, let's go wash up before Gran sends Mum to get us with a wooden spoon."  
  
"Wow...that's a chilling image," Lucca remarked sadly.  
  
"And you've never seen it," Emma sighed as the three stood and started toward the pump.  
  
  
  
  
  
The evening meal was, it seemed, something of a traditional time of meeting for the entire camp. The idea of each individual immediate family having independent mealtimes was utterly foreign to the Kaeries, who ate together around the gigantic communal bonfire in the center of the camp. Those who could would take turns with the meal, often banding together more than one to make the rather onerous task of cooking for thirty people a little more bearable.  
  
Mealtimes were, predictably, noisy, chaotic affairs in which everyone dove at the food in a haphazard fashion that ended more often than not in the injury of someone who was in the wrong place and the wrong time, and got a fork shoved somewhere rather unpleasant.  
  
A nose, or an ear, or some such thing.  
  
At any rate, these mealtimes also tended to go rather quickly, save for those who had the task of cleaning up afterwards. This was accomplished by teams that varied from week to week, as one person alone certainly could have run himself or herself into an early grave.  
  
As they had newly joined the family, Hannah said, unheeding of the panicked looks that they exchanged at this wording - she didn't think they intended to stay, did she? - Magus and Lucca were not expected to help with clean-up crew that night.  
  
And in fact, she continued with the same knowing grin that they had seen on the faces of almost every member of the family, and were getting rather tired of by now, they should both be heading to bed. After all, they were still recovering from illness, and needed rest.  
  
So, after they had bid and been bid goodnight by everyone, Hannah shooed them off to their tent.  
  
  
  
  
  
Throwing the thin sleeveless nightgown over her head, Lucca climbed hastily under the blankets of the bed pallet and called to Magus,  
  
"Okay, you can turn around. I'm done."  
  
Rolling his eyes, he did so, then dragged his shirt over his head and threw it over the back of the chair in the corner, as Lucca hastened to look away. His eyes once again rolling heavenward, he carefully extinguished the small oil lamp next to the bed pallet and climbed in next to her.  
  
After a long moment of silence, he spoke up.  
  
"Er, Lucca...I suppose now would be as good a time as any to...discuss what happened yesterday..."  
  
Grateful for the darkness, as it covered his sudden blush, he waited for a reply.  
  
And waited.  
  
And waited.  
  
"Lucca?" he tried again.  
  
Still no answer.  
  
"Lucca," he called, a little louder, touching her shoulder gently.  
  
As though instinctively, she murmured softly and rolled over to face him, burying her face against his chest, one arm snaking around his waist.  
  
"Er...Lucca?"  
  
He rolled his eyes yet again as her deep, regular breathing effectively solved the problem of why she was not answering.  
  
"Am I that interesting?" he rhetorically asked the girl asleep in his arms.  
  
Predictably, she gave no answer, save to snuggle even closer against him.  
  
Yes, this would be a long night, he reflected, shifting uncomfortably against the urge to taste the soft, white skin of neck and shoulder nicely exposed by the wide, loose neckline of that silly nightgown, and by the way her head tilted ever so slightly to the side as she lay against the pillow.  
  
With a sigh, he dropped a light kiss on the top of her head, reminding himself that she was a child yet, and that he absolutely could not allow anything like the events of the previous afternoon to occur again.  
  
At the minute brush of his lips against her hair, she smiled in her sleep, murmured, and pressed herself more tightly against him, leaving little to his imagination about how she was built.  
  
Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes and set to the impossible task of falling asleep.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Crono, I'm really worried," Marle confessed, leaning tiredly against the rough wooden table in the small, dingy tavern.  
  
"Believe me, Marle, so am I," the youth replied with a sigh. "But we'll find 'em."  
  
"I hope so. But Crono, what if they aren't even here? What if we're spending all our time looking around here, for nothing?"  
  
"It's possible, but right now, we really have no other lead to go on."  
  
"What lead are we going on here?" the blonde demanded.  
  
"Well...it's kind of a weak lead, but this is the year that the Epoch was set to when it zapped them both. And after all, this is where Gaspar suggested we begin looking. I'm just glad he was able to find us a Gate. And y'know, Gaspar's never been wrong before."  
  
"He was right about the most important thing," Marle whispered around a lump suddenly forming in her throat, her eyes growing suspiciously moist as she gripped Crono's hand more tightly.  
  
The time that the party had to function without Crono, frantically searching for a way to literally bring him back from the dead, had affected the whole team, but no one more than Marle. More than once, she found herself gripped by night terrors of what her life should have been had they not been able to recover the young man.  
  
Catching sight of the tears, Crono put an arm around Marle and pulled her closer.  
  
And at this moment, the door decided most inconsiderately to swing open with a loud bang, thus ruining the tender romantic moment established by our hero and his princess.  
  
"My friends! I return with news!"  
  
"Oh, hey, Frog," Crono greeted their green, sword-wielding friend as he slid into the chair across from Marle. "What did you find out?"  
  
"Upon seeing the fire in the distance, I hath been asking around to find out its meaning. Finally, I hath learned that a family of travelling farmers doth inhabit the area at this time of year."  
  
"What can I get for...you...sir?" a pretty young tavern girl trailed off bewilderedly as she got a good look at the amphibian.  
  
"A large ale, please, my dear lady," Frog requested politely.  
  
"Of-of course, sir. And for you two?"  
  
"Oh, uh, I'll get a bowl of stew," Crono said.  
  
"And...would you recommend the apple pie, or the coffee éclair?" Marle inquired, brow furrowing in confusion.  
  
"Coffee éclair, without a doubt," the waitress answered promptly.  
  
"Alright, then! One of those!"  
  
"Right away, everyone," she answered cheerfully before starting to the kitchen.  
  
"Friend Crono, I believe it wouldst be prudent for some of us to travel to the camp in the morning, to see if our lost comrades hath joined them," Frog announced when she had gone.  
  
Marle giggled.  
  
"Oh, man, Magus and Lucca farming! I'd pay money to see that!"  
  
"If all goeth well, Lady Marle, thou wiltst see it for no money at all. Crono, who shalt thou take along on the morrow?"  
  
"Well, I think I'll take Marle. Frog, I trust you to watch everything here."  
  
"I thank you for your trust," Frog murmured quite unconvincingly. In his mind, he was already playing out several decidedly unpleasant possibilities of how he would put in the following days, between listening to Ayla demanding a party, or something fun to do, or something to beat up, and listening to Robo droning on and on about how he was regarded as a blemish on the party, how no one outside of Lucca cared a whit for him, how he doubted that even she really regarded him as anything more than an overgrown tin can, and how Frog wasn't to worry about him, he would just sit there in the dark, alone and rusting.  
  
Frog sighed. Without a doubt, the days to follow would seem endless.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
End Notes: Bwah! I did it! Yaay! Heh...some time ago, a reviewer challenged me to have Magus use the word 'huggles' in a sentence. And I've finally done it!  
  
And I'm sorry it took so long to update! I don't know where all my time has gone! Okay, maybe I do...stupid Vincent/Yuffie obsession...  
  
[growls]  
  
Uh...anyway, thanks again for reading, and for reviewing, if you choose to do that.  
  
[Makes big hopeful eyes]  
  
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease? Good or bad, feedback is very much appreciated. Does this need more of a plot? Have these two drifted hopelessly out of character? Do the Kaeries seem too much like a gimmick? Was that 'huggles' just TOO disconcerting? Should I stop making Robo complain about everything? Have the Real World (tm) jokes just gotten out of hand? Should Rhianwen stop asking questions?  
  
Oh, and I've got a scene that I'd really love for someone to look over for me and see if it fits with the flow of the story, and/or with the characters. It's set to go in a later chapter, most likely 11, or if all does not go well, 12. Anyway, if you'd like to give me a hand there, jus' leave a review and let me know and I'll e-mail it to you, or e-mail me and I'll...e-mail it to you. Heh...aaaaaaaaanyway...  
  
If not, no biggie. ^_^  
  
Well, bye!  
  
[Waves, then bounces away cheerfully, cuddling her stuffed duckie, Quackers] 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - And Hopefully One of the Last!  
  
  
  
Author's Notes: Finally! Another chapter! I didn't think it would ever happen. I am COMPLETELY losing momentum with this story. I think I'm going to take a good, long break from the CT section after this is done (after all, there are always more silly Final Fantasy 7 stories to be penned). I don't know; these characters are really beginning to discourage me, and I don't know why. I just don't feel like I'm ever going to get their personalities and interactions down, because there's so little in the game to work from without being a psychologist or making stuff up (as tends to be my path of choice), and no matter what way I develop them, I'm told by a veritable multitude of people that they're OOC. And I really am beginning to go bald from tearing my hair out every time Lucca does something absolutely bizarre that I never meant her to do. Really, she is a most difficult character to control! At least Magus does what I tell him, even if he rolls his eyes in disgust and crosses his arms.  
  
Anyway, excuse this little rant-thing, and I hope you enjoy this chapter in spite of it. :o)  
  
Oh, yeah, and for anyone who asked, or is interested, the assumptions I was using for the ages were:  
  
Crono and Lucca: 17  
  
Marle: 16  
  
Frog: 23? 25? (I'm not really sure, there...)  
  
Ayla: 18 or 19  
  
Magus: 27  
  
Robo: Heh...your guess is as good as mine.  
  
  
  
And now, oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon with the show!  
  
  
  
"G'morning," Lucca greeted sleepily as she shifted slightly in his arms, turning over to smile up at him.  
  
Magus said nothing, simply looking away abruptly and letting go of her as if she had burned him, and climbing to his feet.  
  
The young woman blinked.  
  
"O-kaaaay, that was unexpected...is something wrong?"  
  
"Nothing at all," came the reply muffled by the tunic he was dragging over his head.  
  
With a tiny frown, she got up and snatched her own pile of clothes from the chair.  
  
"Somehow, I don't believe you at all..." she sighed, yanking her nightgown up over her head.  
  
Startled, he turned abruptly away.  
  
"How about a little warning next time," he suggested, annoyed, flushing slightly.  
  
"Oh, sorry," she called back smugly, quite clearly not sorry at all. Then after scrambling into her skirt and blouse - Gods, she was getting tired of skirts! - she continued. "You can turn around now."  
  
He turned, fixing her with an icy glare as he did so. Then, without a word, he stalked from the tent.  
  
"And good morning to you too, Mr. Sunshine," she muttered, scowling at his retreating back. It seemed to be turning into a regular activity as of late.  
  
Well. It seemed to her safe to assume that conversation would be out of the question for a while. She had hoped to talk to him about what had happened that afternoon two days previous. Ah, well. He seemed to be in no mood to say anything to her now, but he would have all day away from her to get over what was bothering him. To be sure, both of them likely had thinking to do, she reflected, despite a niggling annoyance at the back of her mind each time he had neatly escaped talking to her about...that incident. This might be a good opportunity for both of them to get their thoughts together.  
  
Ideally, at any rate.  
  
  
  
  
  
Ideals come so seldom to fruition, don't they?  
  
As Lucca finished what few preparations she had to be ready for the day and pushed aside the canvas flap to exit the tent, she found herself nearly barrelled over by Magus, who was simultaneously trying to enter the tent.  
  
"Don't go far, bookworm," he advised, glaring over his shoulder as he stepped back into the tent. "We've been sent on a supply run."  
  
"A...supply run?"  
  
He smiled slightly at her bewildered expression.  
  
"Yes, a supply run. It seems that Hannah only noticed this morning that they're running dangerously low on several necessities."  
  
"Uh...and they're sending us?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Wow...the story of our lives, eh?" the young woman chuckled.  
  
"How do you mean?" he asked with a frown.  
  
"Think about it for a second," she requested impatiently. "What eventually led to our being sent here?"  
  
"Ah. A supply run."  
  
"Yeah. But this time, if we meet any highwaymen, we're leaving them where we find them!"  
  
He smirked.  
  
"Probably wise. Now, let's go find out where this town is."  
  
"And who we're going with," Lucca added, unsure of whether she was desperately hoping that it would be no one, or anyone.  
  
Finally, somewhere between their tent and the communal bonfire where Hannah was breaking up a mini-feud between two of the children, she decided tentatively that it was the latter.  
  
As such, when they reached the bonfire, only to be informed by Hannah that they couldn't spare anyone else away for a day, and so the two of them would have to go alone, Lucca's dismay might be only imagined, as might the paradoxical satisfaction at the fact that he might finally be forced to talk to her and confront...that incident two days ago. After all, there was no way the big idiot could get through a two-hour walk to and from the nearest town without saying a word to her.  
  
  
  
Half an hour later, Lucca was learning the hard way exactly how wrong she could be about such an assumption.  
  
They had been walking steadily, with him stalking on ahead - she only thanked the powers that be that he still hadn't seemed to remember to check whether or not he could float, as that would have likely put her a good hour behind him - and her nearly running to catch up.  
  
Naturally, the result was that, by the time they were half an hour from the camp, she was far too out of breath - not to mention too far behind him - to pursue conversation of any kind, either trivial or significant.  
  
"Hey!" she called to him when this had finally crossed the line from slightly irking her into royally pissing her off.  
  
He came to a halt, but did not turn.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Can you wait up for a minute? Y'know, we don't HAVE to run the whole way there!"  
  
"The sooner we get this over with, the better," he called back.  
  
"Hey, Hannah told us to take the day if we needed it."  
  
"But we don't. If you would simply move a little bit faster, we could have been halfway to the town by now."  
  
"I CAN'T move any faster!"  
  
"Then you should have told Hannah that you weren't feeling well enough to come with me," he told her inexorably, finally turning to her as she came to a halt beside him.  
  
"It...it isn't that I'm not feeling well; you just walk too bloody fast!"  
  
"Or maybe, four-eyes, you simply walk too bloody slowly. We aren't out here for a pleasant stroll; we have a job to do."  
  
"Where have I heard that before?" she asked the world at large with a smirk.  
  
He glared down at her.  
  
"Yes, and it's become abundantly clear that these little side-trips that you people insist on can lead to no good. If it weren't for that damn trip to Carmael, none of this would have happened. Valuable time that could have been used for training."  
  
"Without 'that damn trip to Carmael," she bit out, "we wouldn't have the Epoch fixed, and we wouldn't be going anywhere!"  
  
"A nice lot of good the trip did in relation to the repair of the damn thing," he scoffed. "Maybe we should have enlisted help in fixing it, though we enlisted the wrong help."  
  
Lucca turned away, stung. She knew that there was likely no one out there better equipped knowledge-wise than her for the task of repairing the Epoch, and she had every confidence in her own capability along such lines. And most of her knew that Magus wasn't really blaming the entire situation on her, that it was simply his nature to be...an ass, for lack of a better term. There was a part, though, that took immediate offence to his words, and another that wondered uncomfortably why his opinion of her skills mattered so much, and why she was so suddenly unable to take such comments of his in stride, and simply dismiss them as Magus being Magus.  
  
"Whatever you say," she muttered, continuing along the dirt path leading up a gently sloping hill.  
  
  
  
"Do you need to stop?" Magus asked gruffly that afternoon as they left Anrion's market, the burlap sacks containing the camp's necessary supplies strapped safely to their backs.  
  
Lucca smiled inwardly. He must, she reflected, be feeling slightly guilty about having made the comments he had earlier. And as well he should!  
  
Or perhaps, she admitted, it could have simply been that he was as sick of walking in complete silence as she was.  
  
The remainder of the walk to the town had passed in a silence that, it was a safe estimate, had been uncomfortable for both, and doubly so for Lucca, who was coming quickly to the realization that the effects of a mountain lion dragging her claws through one's leg was not gotten over nearly so quickly as a common fever. Her leg was, she was uncomfortably certain, beginning to swell again, and the jolts of pain shooting from the gashes both up and down were coming with increasing frequency. Thus, the idea of a rest stop was immensely appealing.  
  
"Um...would you mind?" she asked sheepishly, wincing as, once again, her leg made it known that it did not at all approve of all the abuse it was receiving lately.  
  
Catching the pained expression, however brief, he nodded his assent.  
  
"There's an inn across the street."  
  
  
  
  
  
They made their way into the small, crowded dining area of the inn as inconspicuously as possible, and sat down at a table close to the back corner of the room.  
  
Heaving a sigh of relief as she dropped into the heavy wooden chair next to him, she shot Magus a sideways glance.  
  
"Do you think they'll let us just sit here without ordering anything?"  
  
"I doubt it," he replied absently. "We'll probably have to order."  
  
"Do we have any money?"  
  
"Shandy gave us enough to cover the unexpected, didn't he? We'll simply owe him what we spend here."  
  
She nodded, and both fell back into the silence that had been so prevalent between the two all of that morning. With it quickly returned the uncomfortable tension that had hung in the air the entire walk. Gods, this was intolerable! Even pure animosity would be better than this! Of course, there were a lot of things that would be better than pure animosity. He hadn't, she reflected, been this entirely unwilling to talk to her since they had been thrown onto that mountain. Well, it seemed obvious that nothing was going to change until she made it.  
  
"Hey, Magus," she finally ventured, forcing timidity from her voice with something of an effort, but still doing what she considered a most admirable job at it, "as long as we're just sitting here, it'd be as good a time as any to...talk. Y'know, about what happened."  
  
"I know," he assured her with a sigh. "I suppose we really don't have a choice."  
  
"No choice?!" she repeated, the beginnings of anger that had lain simmering all day already blazing to life through her. "You've been saying for the last two days that we would talk about it!"  
  
"Maybe I just don't see the need to discuss."  
  
"Maybe you don't. But I do. I need to know what was behind it. I need to know if...we're thinking the same things. I...I need to know where I stand here!"  
  
The instant the phrase was out, both fell silent. There it was. What were they now? Certainly, something had changed. But was it going to be lasting, or would it fade back into non-existence the second their circumstances went back to normal?  
  
Inwardly flinching, she nevertheless forced herself to maintain eye contact. She caught her breath as he opened his mouth to speak.  
  
  
  
Magus rubbed his eyes wearily. Damnit, why did the little chit have to be so bloody insistent? What could it have hurt her to simply hold off on this discussion for another day or two? He sternly commanded the voice in the back of his mind whispering that she had every right to call him up on a promise that he had made, to take a flying leap. After all, this was neither the time nor the place to have this sort of conversation.  
  
Perhaps even more was the fact that he simply did not know what they were to one another, what he considered her to be to him. Certainly, there was something in his mind - rather a larger part than he would have liked to admit - that wanted to consider not only the incident of two days previous, but all of the changes that their relationship had undergone as of late, very significant. A much larger part - although smaller than he would have admitted at gunpoint - scoffed at all such foolishness. The goal of his life was, had been for years, and until it had come to fruition, would be the destruction of Lavos. To be sure, he admitted with the greatest of reluctance, he had recently lost sight of that goal somewhat, but that had been wholly the fault of circumstance. After all, when one is fighting for survival, and for the survival of an ally, unwavering obsession with anything else can be difficult.  
  
Certainly it wasn't indicative of anything else.  
  
Thus had been the thoughts largely on his mind for the past days. Although he had reached no conclusion on what he might say to her about the subject, and had quite hoped to hold off on having this discussion until after Lavos had been destroyed, it seemed that she refused to wait any longer.  
  
And as such, there was only one possible response that he could give.  
  
  
  
"Where you do you stand? I suppose exactly where you stood before," he replied indifferently.  
  
She blinked, stunned. This, she had not expected.  
  
"Is that all you have to say?" she whispered.  
  
"I'm afraid I don't quite know what you want me to say," he admitted with a shrug, inwardly steeling himself against the sheen of tears quickly rushing to her eyes. If she wasn't willing to wait until a more appropriate time for this conversation, then this was exactly what she deserved to hear.  
  
"All ready to order over here?" a pretty young tavern girl asked merrily, leaning over the table in a manner that almost cause her...considerable assets to topple from her low-cut blouse.  
  
"Er, yes," Magus replied, averting his eyes. "A bowl of stew, whatever you have."  
  
"And for you, hon?" the woman asked, jotting the order down and then looking expectantly at Lucca.  
  
"Um...could I just have a glass of water?"  
  
"She'll have the same as me," the sorcerer cut in, frowning at the purple- haired teen.  
  
"Right-o. Two bowls of today's stew," the waitress repeated before bustling off to another table.  
  
"You have to eat something," he explained in response to Lucca's glare.  
  
"I don't want anything," she retorted.  
  
"And I don't want you passing out on the way back to the camp."  
  
"Thank you so much for your concern."  
  
"Concern?" he echoed with a laugh. "What concern? If you pass out, who do you think has to carry you?"  
  
"Gee, thanks," she repeated sourly, crossing her arms and turning away. Then, after a moment, she turned back to him. "You really don't think anything has changed?"  
  
"What exactly do you think has changed?"  
  
"I...well, I don't know! But something has!"  
  
"I'm afraid you'll have to be a little clearer."  
  
"You...you IDIOT! You know what I'm talking about!"  
  
He shrugged again.  
  
"Two days ago!"  
  
"A random mistake that you are putting far too much importance on."  
  
She recoiled physically at that.  
  
"...Mistake."  
  
He nodded almost imperceptibly.  
  
As she straightened up and looked away, an expression of utter desolation passed over her face, one of such misery that it might have wrung anyone's heart, and his doubly so, although he tried to ignore it.  
  
Still, with a sigh, he said, quite gently for him,  
  
"Lucca...I don't know what sort of silly romantic ideas you've got in your mind - I honestly thought you were smarter than that - but look at this logically. First of all, you're a child."  
  
"I am not!"  
  
"You're sixteen years old."  
  
"Seventeen!"  
  
"Of course," he agreed with a weary smile. "Seventeen. Still, far too young to be thinking about-"  
  
"Oh, hell, Magus, I'm not asking for a marriage proposal here!" she exclaimed.  
  
'Liar,' her brain commented idly.  
  
'Shut up, brain!' she growled at it silently. Then, rubbing her forehead, she continued out loud. "I'm just asking you not to completely ignore what happened!"  
  
"Ignoring it is about the best we can do," he informed her coldly, turning abruptly away to signal that the conversation had ended.  
  
"Great," she sighed, turning away disgustedly, blinking fiercely. Now way would she let him make her cry!  
  
He turned toward her and opened his mouth as if to say something, then seemed to think better of it and turned back to stare absently at a spot on the wall.  
  
They remained that way until the serving girl returned with their meals, a palpable tension between them, nearly stifling.  
  
After that, Lucca reflected, it was a little better. At least she could pretend to be completely absorbed in the task of consuming the watery, essentially tasteless stew. But for reasons that had nothing to do with the taste of the stuff, she felt that every mouthful would choke her.  
  
Finally, unable to force down any more of the revolting mess that seemed so reminiscent of sawdust and soggy cardboard simmered in muddy water with a random assortment of herbs, none of which seemed to blend with the rest, she dropped her spoon into her bowl and pushed the bowl away.  
  
"I'll wait for you outside," she announced, standing abruptly and leaving the table.  
  
"No need," he assured her, shoving his own bowl away with a grimace and tossing a sufficient number of coins onto the table to cover their meals. "The stuff is pretty awful, isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
This was the extent of the conversation for the next hour as they exited the inn and then left the town in complete silence, each trudging doggedly on while doing everything in their power to avoid looking at the other.  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, approximately two hundred yards in front of them, an old farmer man lost control of a team of horses. Being old as he was, he was in no shape to go immediately after them, and could do aught but watch them tear furiously down the road, hoping that they would return once they had calmed down, or that his son, younger and stronger of health than he, would return home soon, and would go search the horses out. In the interim, however, he had a scolding of epic proportions from a wife put into a rather ill temper from all the commotion, to sit through.  
  
'Please, son, help yer old man out and get home soon! 'f I have ta listen ta her jawin' much longer, I'll whisk up her fryin' pan an' toss it inta the pig pens, just to break the monotony!...and the window.'  
  
  
  
This story, however, has little to do with the old man, his nagging wife, and their son. The old man's team of runaway horses is the facet of their lives that concerns this tale. Certainly the animals should have concerned both Magus and Lucca quite a lot, as they were, themselves, directly in the path that the horses would at some point wish to take. And as everyone knows, runaway horses aren't easy to deter from a path once they have set their minds on it.  
  
As everyone also knows, when two people are vainly trying to ignore the uncomfortable tension hanging in the air between them, and trying just as vainly to forget a certain conversation that had not been brought to any satisfactory conclusion, it can be difficult for them to notice what is in their paths.  
  
This combination of factors, these two scenarios coming into contact, could lead to no good.  
  
And of course, it didn't.  
  
To be more specific, just as Magus and Lucca had come to the peak of a hill, both quite caught up in the task of trying to walk together whilst not interacting at all, the old farmer man's team of runaway horses chose just that unfortunate moment to thunder up the hill. Being runaway and quite severely panicked, when the horses saw the pair approaching, they neither heeded nor halted, but kept on towards them at a dizzying rate.  
  
Magus, upon hearing something that sounded oddly like thunder despite the lack of anything particularly cloud-like in the vicinity aside from the young blond man they had just passed with a ridiculously huge sword strapped to his back and a hairstyle that reminded him somewhat of Crono's, acted entirely on instinct, scrambling cautiously out of the way onto the steep slope of the hill on the left side of the road.  
  
Lucca, being Lucca and not at all fond of horses, immediately became as panicked as the animals and completely froze, staring in horror at a swiftly approaching impending doom.  
  
"Lucca! Get the hell out of the way!"  
  
The frantic shout from just off of the left side of the road seemed to be just what was needed to snap the young woman out of her immobile state. Springing to life, she dove to the right side of the road.  
  
Fortunately, this took her out of harm's way as far as the stampeding horses went. They barrelled past quite harmlessly.  
  
Unfortunately, time had not afforded the luxury of caution, and the hill did slope rather steeply, and seven feet down.  
  
Magus watched in disbelief, shaking his head at her ill luck as, with a dismayed shriek, she tumbled down the hill. Once the horses were well past, he climbed to the top of the hill, crossed the road, and peered over the other side.  
  
"Lucca?" he called to the unmoving figure lying in a heap at the bottom of the hill.  
  
No response.  
  
He rolled his eyes. She was probably just winded. No need for him to go down there.  
  
"Lucca!" he called more sharply.  
  
Still no response.  
  
With an impatient sigh that almost managed to stave off a pang of worry, he scrambled down the hill and crouched next to her, shaking her shoulder lightly.  
  
"Lucca! Get up!"  
  
Nothing. His grip tightened, and he shook her a little more forcefully.  
  
"...Ow," she whimpered, quite winded, eyes fluttering open.  
  
Without a word, he slid a hand behind her back and helped her to sit.  
  
"Would somebody shoot the owner of those horses?" she requested weakly, shooting him a wan smile of thanks. "And the horses, too?"  
  
"Are you alright?" he asked brusquely, looking away carefully.  
  
"Yeah, I think so," she replied.  
  
"Wonderful. So, we might stand a chance at getting back some time today?"  
  
"Uh-huh. Just give me a minute."  
  
She tried to stand, but immediately fell back with a sharp cry of pain.  
  
Instinctively, he darted forward to catch her. Then settling her carefully on the ground again, he inspected her ankle.  
  
"Yaagh!" she yelped as he gave it a rough squeeze.  
  
"Did that hurt?"  
  
"No, I just like to yell a couple times a day to promote good lung capacity."  
  
He looked up at her.  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"Right, right. What was the point of that anyway?"  
  
"I had to check something. Oh, by the way," he continued offhandedly, "your ankle's broken."  
  
"Greeeeeeeaaaaaat. Heh...I guess you'll have to carry me back to the camp, after all," she admitted sheepishly. Then she glared at him. "You just had to bring up the possibility, didn't you? You probably jinxed me!"  
  
He knelt and glared back at her.  
  
"I ought to make you walk back on it, just to teach you to stop getting yourself into these damn fool situations."  
  
"Hey, this time it really wasn't my fault! How was I supposed to predict a team of runaway horses coming past here RIGHT NOW?" she demanded, wincing as her ankle shifted slightly. "At least I had the presence of mind to jump."  
  
"Right down a seven-foot drop," he grumbled, distracting himself from the images that his mind had formed of her crushed to death beneath the heels of four frightened horses by sliding one arm behind her knees and the other behind her back. "Now, hold on."  
  
"I know the routine by now," she assured him with a weak grin. "And anyway, how was I supposed to know that the drop was there?"  
  
"Most people would have looked before jumping off of it."  
  
"Not if staying in the same place for another second would have meant being trampled to a squishy, disgusting mess."  
  
"Yes, well..."  
  
"I can just see it: little bits of skull and brain all over the road!"  
  
"You paint a very vivid picture..."  
  
"Blood and guts everywhere!"  
  
"Lucca, that's..."  
  
"Can't you just hear the bones crunching beneath the Crushing Hooves of Doom (tm)?"  
  
"Enough! Now, shut up until we get back to the camp, or I will make you walk back."  
  
She snickered slightly at that. He looked down at her with one eyebrow quirked.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm just imagining what would happen if I tried to walk on it. The bone would probably pierce right through the skin. Wouldn't that be NEAT?! Just this chunk of bone hanging out of-"  
  
"Absolutely disgusting is more like it."  
  
"What's makin' you so squeamish? It's not like you haven't CAUSED this kind of stuff, and worse, to tons of people."  
  
She felt him stiffen against her, and as he came to a dead halt, she knew she had made a mistake in saying it. Giddy from pain or not, she reflected, she really had to learn to think before she spoke.  
  
"Sorry," she muttered.  
  
"Don't mention it," he growled. "Ever."  
  
By this point, it hardly bears mentioning that the walk back to the camp passed in silence. Still, as Magus began walking again, she smiled to herself despite her slight guilt over having brought up his past. Through the dim haze of pain that had seemed to hang over her eyes as she had lain at the bottom of the steep little hill, trying to figure out what was still connected as it should be and what bore worrying about, she had seen the expression of panic in his eyes as he had commanded her to get up. That, and the fact that the expression was quite familiar by now, told her beyond a doubt that he DID care, at least somewhat. Still, she realized now - after the fact - that it had been a mistake to try to get him to admit as much. That sort of thing just wasn't him. At all. And so, she decided, she would make exception for the fact that it wasn't really her, either. She would give him time to get over their conversation of earlier that day, and then she would take the first step.  
  
But meanwhile, she was getting awfully drowsy. Really, near-death experiences were something a person never got used to. They could still manage to tire her out. And anyway, it was awfully nice and warm here.  
  
Magus stopped abruptly as his burden sighed sleepily and nuzzled against his chest. Then, rolling his eyes slightly and not quite managing to bite back a smile, he continued on.  
  
  
  
And meanwhile, two large brown burlap sacks, their contents trampled to mush, lay at the top of a hill several hundred yards back.  
  
  
  
  
  
"So, Mrs. Kaerie, how long do you think they'll be gone?" Marle asked anxiously, peering down the dusty path leading away from the camp, a mug of tea gripped, forgotten, in her hands.  
  
"I'd have thought they'd be back by now," Hannah admitted, frowning. "Those two...they've got a knack. They seem to invite disaster."  
  
"You're telling me," Crono sighed.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Could you please try not to bump so much when you walk?" Lucca requested, biting her lip as her ankle jarred painfully.  
  
"And how do you suggest I do that?" he demanded.  
  
"Well, you don't HAVE to run..."  
  
"We want to get you back to the camp before you manage to stumble your way into another accident."  
  
"I TOLD you, it wasn't my fault!"  
  
"I know, I know," he grumbled. "Now, quit complaining. We're almost there. See? The camp is just up ahead."  
  
She raised her head to look, and nearly wept in relief at the sight of a ring of tents jutting up from the yellowed grass of the fields looming on the horizon. Then, narrowing her eyes, she peered more closely at three figures quickly making their way through the field.  
  
Magus sighed.  
  
"And here comes the welcome wagon..."  
  
"Who's that with Hannah?"  
  
"Damned if I know."  
  
"Oh, Gods, Magus, I don't believe it..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's...Crono and Marle!"  
  
"What took the two of you so long?" the old woman called to them. "We were beginning to think you'd decided to stay the night!"  
  
"We...had some unforeseen difficulties," Magus informed her grimly.  
  
"Oh, lord," Hannah sighed as she drew near, eyeing the pale face, tense with pain, beneath the unruly mop of purple hair. "What's happened to her now?"  
  
"Broken ankle," the blue-haired man replied wearily.  
  
For a moment, Hannah, Marle, and Crono stared at him incredulously.  
  
"How...how did that happen?" Crono finally asked.  
  
"She fell off a hill."  
  
A long silence fell over the group, finally broken by Lucca's foreboding command of,  
  
"Don't laugh."  
  
Laughing, of course, had been far from the minds of all three of them, but the slight slur in her voice, along with the comically grumpy glare had Marle fighting back a wild fit of giggles.  
  
"How is it that whenever we leave you two alone, someone gets hurt?"  
  
"Hey, when has that ever happened before?" Lucca demanded.  
  
Crono snickered.  
  
"What about that great job you two did with the Epoch? Nothing like that ever happened when it was just you fixing it, Lucca. But we add Magus, and all of a sudden, we've got stuff blowing up!"  
  
"Shut up!" the tall mage barked.  
  
"It's nice to see you, too," Marle beamed. "Now, Hannah, is there somewhere where we can put Lucca down for a minute while I heal that?"  
  
"Heal?" Hannah repeated warily, nevertheless leading the group back to the camp. "What do you plan to do?"  
  
"Oh...well, it's just a spell."  
  
"Magic doesn't work here," Magus informed her, rolling his eyes.  
  
Crono frowned.  
  
"What do you mean? Frog used a healing spell on Ayla when she fell off the roof of the inn that we're staying at, and the town we're in isn't THAT far from here."  
  
"Then why were we not able to use magic in the mountains?" Magus demanded.  
  
"I told you," Hannah cut in. "There's a barrier just around that area."  
  
"Why?" Marle asked, her brow wrinkling slightly.  
  
"Because it's an area of worship for some, as far as I can figure. I don't go up there myself. Don't hold with portentous ritual. My idea of worship is appreciating, and saying thanks every now and again. But those mountains are important for a lot of people around this area. You can put her down right here."  
  
Hannah indicated the large bench surrounding the fire pit, and Magus carefully set Lucca down, her broken ankle propped up in front of her. Marle sat down next to her and softly began to chant an incantation. Almost immediately, a soft blue glow began to emanate from her hands as the bone slowly began to meld back together and Lucca relaxed as the pain faded.  
  
"Thanks, Marle." Then she frowned. "So, how did you guys find us, anyway?"  
  
"Oh, man, that's a long story," Crono replied with a groan. "You got an hour or two?"  
  
"Of course! Now, start talking!" Lucca ordered.  
  
  
  
And so the young spiky-haired lad launched into a long and bitter tale of woe...  
  
  
  
  
  
End Notes: Hrm...I'm not particularly fond of this chapter. It was a little more serious involving the emotions of the two than I tend to be good at writing. I deal mainly with fluff. ^_^  
  
And of course, what does Rhianwen do when she has to knock off a slightly more serious chapter? Why, she turns it into a cheesy soap opera! If I didn't have my sense of humour firmly in tact, I might not have laughed so hysterically upon re-reading it. Instead, my hysteria may have taken the form of tears (but then again, I consider all romances to be at least somewhat cheesy if they aren't dealt with in an utterly ridiculous fashion, and often then, too; cute, to be sure, and tons of fun, but inherently cheesy. I think it's something of a genetic disorder. Rhianwen cannot take romance seriously). Still, I can't complain. Another bit done and out of the way! Only two more to go. Again, I extend my greatest thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this so far. I honestly wouldn't have a story here without someone taking the time to read it. ^_^ 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11  
  
  
  
  
  
"...And that's pretty much the story," Crono concluded.  
  
For a moment, silence reigned as Magus, Lucca, Hannah, Shandy, Miek, Emma and Moira stared at him and Marle, speechless. Lucca was the first to recover.  
  
"Okay, Crono, tell the part about the penguin again."  
  
"Penguin?" Crono repeated, frowning. "Lucca, I didn't say a thing about a penguin. We tried to fix the Epoch ourselves, almost blew it up, and then went to see Gaspar using the Gate Key. He told us to bring the Epoch to the End of Time. He helped us fix it, and then told us where we could find you, and that's it. The reason it took us so long is that we started clear on the other side of the world. See? No penguins."  
  
"Oh, right. Sorry. My mistake."  
  
"I think someone needs to get to sleep before she has a relapse," Hannah announced, fixing Lucca with a stern eye.  
  
"I think someone else should go with her," Moira giggled, winking at Magus, whose only reply was a frosty glare.  
  
"Oh, Moira, leave 'im alone," Hannah commanded. "And find these two a tent, would ya?"  
  
"Sure, Gran," the brunette agreed easily, turning to the blonde and the redhead. "C'mon, you two. Let's find you somewhere to sleep."  
  
"Er...alright," Marle agreed, blushing slightly at the unexpected revelation that she would be sharing a tent with Crono.  
  
Crono said nothing, blushing brightly for much the same reason.  
  
"Have fun, guys!" Lucca called after them, grinning wickedly, earning the young couple several snickers and understanding smiles from the various members of the camp milling about as they simultaneously began to move faster.  
  
"You," Hannah commanded sternly, "go to bed. Now."  
  
"Right, right," Lucca sighed, knowing by now better than to argue with Hannah when she was 'being motherly.' Something along the lines of, 'It's for your own good. Now, do it before I bust your teeth!' And so, she gave a tiny wave to the group. "G'night, everyone."  
  
"Goodnight, dear," the old woman said kindly as the purple-haired teen departed. Then she turned to Magus. "You'd better go, as well."  
  
"I-I'm not especially tired," he assured her. "Actually, I think I might go for a walk."  
  
"If she fell off a hill earlier," Hannah muttered to him, leaning closer, "do you think she should be left alone right now?"  
  
"Well, then why don't you go watch her?" he suggested stonily.  
  
"She IS your wife," she reminded him, peering at him carefully.  
  
He fell silent, looking away uncomfortably.  
  
"Of course," he finally sighed before turning and starting toward the tent.  
  
  
  
"Y'know, Magus, you don't HAVE to baby-sit me," Lucca informed him, exasperated. "I think I can go to sleep on my own. I AM seventeen..."  
  
"Hannah doesn't think you should be left alone after that knock on the head you got earlier."  
  
"Oh, Hannah's just over-protective of everyone in the world!"  
  
"And she's charged me with the task of sitting with you until you fall asleep. And I certainly don't want to be the poor soul who dared to disobey Hannah."  
  
"So, just go out now and tell that I'm asleep."  
  
"She might be right, though. Maybe you shouldn't be left alone."  
  
"Oh, will you just go away?!"  
  
"Recall if you will that I sleep here, too."  
  
"And whose fault is that, Mr. 'Let's-See-How-Long-We-Can-Keep-the-Scam- Going?' I'M sure not the one who kept telling these people we were married."  
  
"Lucca, for Gods' sake, will you just go to sleep?"  
  
"If YOU'LL go away," she shot back, desperately hoping that he would humour this simple request. Really, the last thing she needed right now was to lie there awake, painfully aware of him next to her, keeping the rather large piece of her mind to herself rather than delivering it most satisfactorily to him, while there was as yet no hope that anything would come of the changes between them.  
  
He watched impassively as she folded her clothes and laid them carefully on the chair and then climbed under the quilt.  
  
"Fine," he agreed finally, turning to leave.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Janus," a voice called. "Come sit a while."  
  
In surprise, he came to a stop and glanced over his shoulder. Hannah waved him over. With a shrug, he started toward the fire pit, dancing with flames.  
  
"Hello, Hannah," he greeted with a sigh, sliding onto the bench next to the old woman, taking a moment to adjust to the heat cast by the fire in sharp contrast to the already cool night air.  
  
"Is Lucca asleep already?"  
  
"Er, yes," the young man replied, smirking slightly over the very abrupt leap into the conversation. Well, if they had learned one thing about Hannah by then it was that she could just as easily do without all silly conventions of politeness.  
  
"Too bad," she commented with a frown. "I wanted to talk to her. Well, I suppose you'll do just as well."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"There are a few things that have seemed fishy to me about you two ever since I talked to your friends Crono and Marle earlier today."  
  
Not MY friends exactly, Magus did not inform her. Instead, he simply sat back and crossed his arms, waiting for her to continue.  
  
"And now I have a question or two."  
  
"Go on."  
  
"You two aren't really married, are you?"  
  
Magus blinked.  
  
"Er...what?"  
  
"Oh, come now, do you honestly think I haven't talked to your friends at all?" Hannah scoffed.  
  
"Oh. Yes, well..."  
  
"Be quiet, will you, boy?"  
  
Quite taken aback - after all, he was not used to being thus addressed - he took her at her word and fell into silence.  
  
"I suppose you want an explanation?" he asked, after a time.  
  
"Actually, I don't much care why you didn't correct us when we assumed it. Really, I can understand why."  
  
"Well, then, why-"  
  
"I'm wondering if you're planning on making it truth any time soon."  
  
"Wh-what?!" he sputtered. "Of course not!"  
  
"Really," Hannah said sceptically, crossing her arms and surveying him coolly.  
  
"Really."  
  
"You should think about it."  
  
"I-I should...what?"  
  
"Just as I say. You should think about it. She's a nice girl. Pretty, too."  
  
"That hardly means that-"  
  
"And it's obvious to me - and to everyone else - that you feel SOMETHING for her."  
  
This gave him a moment of pause, during which she rushed on.  
  
"For that matter, do you want to know why we all immediately assumed you two to be married? It wasn't because we assume every man and woman pair travelling together to be. It was because of how you two acted toward one another."  
  
"How we acted? Weren't we both unconscious when you found us?"  
  
"True. But if your relationship was only what your redheaded friend has described it to be, I don't think you'd have been holding her quite so tightly."  
  
"It was to keep her warm. She wasn't well at that point."  
  
"What about when we had you two dried off and in a bed? And every time I came in to check on you? You're always cuddled up together, peacefully as anything."  
  
"We spent several weeks in the mountains. We had to learn to get along reasonably well."  
  
"VERY well, if that afternoon that I barely prevented you two from engaging in very...marital activities is any indication."  
  
"Alright, granted, I can't explain why that happened."  
  
"Funny. I could explain it quite easily."  
  
He crossed his arms and glared at the old woman.  
  
"How? By informing me that, unbeknownst even to myself, I have fallen in love with her?"  
  
"Something like that," Hannah grinned. "Except I think you know it well enough. It's getting you to admit it that'll be the trick."  
  
He set his jaw firmly, staring into the dancing flames.  
  
"I know nothing of the sort. Nothing that has happened between Lucca and I is indicative of anything deeper."  
  
"Why are you so anxious to believe that?" she demanded, peering at him shrewdly. 'Poor girl...'  
  
"First and foremost, this is not the time for me to be thinking any thoughts of these sorts, about her or anyone. Right now, there is only one thing that is important to me. I don't know if Crono has told you of what will ultimately be our goal-"  
  
"He's mentioned something of the situation, and I wish you all luck."  
  
"Ah. Thank-you. So now you see why the idea of such things is ridiculous right now."  
  
Hannah stared at him incredulously for a moment. Then she tossed back her grizzled head and laughed heartily.  
  
"What?" he demanded, somewhat put out by this laughter.  
  
"You stupid boy, do you honestly think that love lets you choose when is a 'good time' for you? Here's a truth that you might as well get used to know if you haven't already: life is what happens to you in between the big plans you make. It doesn't let you consult your schedule first."  
  
"I don't see any reason to believe that."  
  
"I can think of several that you should."  
  
"Care to enlighten me?"  
  
"You stand a very good chance of losing her if you don't get that straight in your mind."  
  
"I've already told you that that doesn't matter," he retorted, shifting uneasily.  
  
Hannah raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
"Come, now. I haven't been around for sixty-eight years and seen three generations of young people dealing with their romantic issues to fall for such bald-faced lies."  
  
"And how do you presume to know that it's a lie?"  
  
"Didn't you know?" she cackled, eyes glinting eerily in the firelight. "I read minds. Hannah knows all."  
  
"Er, of course she does," Magus agreed hesitantly, edging away.  
  
"Then you understand that it's no use trying to deny things to me."  
  
"Hannah, she's seventeen! Far too young to-"  
  
"Piffle! I was married at sixteen, and to a man older'n you, Gods rest his soul."  
  
"Yes, well that's just a little bit strange."  
  
"She's old for her years."  
  
"That is true," he admitted slowly.  
  
"Of course it is. Well! I'm turning in for the night. Think about what I've said, though, alright?"  
  
"Right," he agreed as she rose and set off toward her tent.  
  
A few minutes later, he stood and started out on his originally intended walk. Gods knew, he needed to clear his mind somehow. These were not thoughts that he was used to being plagued with, and really, they were becoming nothing short of annoying, bouncing again and again through his mind, coming to absolutely no conclusion, offering no insight about how he should handle any of this.  
  
How he should handle it? Gods, was there any question? Lavos was still in existence, and as long as that was so, he had absolutely no room in his mind for thoughts apart from revenge.  
  
Gradually, though, the question began to edge its way into his mind, 'What of after Lavos had been defeated?'  
  
It was certain that even now, Lucca was making it hard for him to maintain his single-minded concentration. How much worse would he find the problem of concentrating on his goals after Lavos' defeat? A lot, if now the mere thought that she might be in danger could send him into a panicked, almost frenzied state.  
  
Thoughts set along this path, he wandered about the farmstead for the better part of an hour. When he finally went back to the camp, the fire had been put out and the central area was deserted. Silently, he stole toward the tent that he shared with the little violet-haired genius.  
  
Pushing into the tent, he hurriedly undressed and slipped into the bed pallet next to her, then stopped still, watching her sleep as one mesmerized.  
  
'Very pretty. I'll admit, you were right about that, old woman.'  
  
Carefully, he brushed a strand of hair from her cheek, for once not a gesture of comfort to a sick child, but a gesture of a much more intimately tender gentleness. Then, withdrawing his hand immediately as she began to stir, he turned over and stared unseeingly into the darkness of the tent, thoughts still racing.  
  
Several hours later, two hours before dawn, he drifted off to sleep, his mind irrevocably made up.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Ack!" Marle shrieked as she went sailing briefly through the air, then performed a most painful-looking nosedive directly to the dirt of the field.  
  
Lucca winced in sympathy as a victorious Keith climbed off of the blonde, driving a foot into the back of her skull, quite forgetting in his haste to make the goal that he was dealing with real people. She made her way over to the princess's prone form.  
  
"You okay, Marle?"  
  
"Of course!" she chirped, bouncing to her feet. "All part of the game, right?"  
  
"Oh, lord. Don't tell me you're getting into this..."  
  
"Well, it's kind of fun to run around and just be kids."  
  
"You must have a different idea of what it is to 'be a kid' than I do. Mine doesn't include skidding across a field on my face and having my head stepped on."  
  
"Come on, Lucca! Lighten up a bit!"  
  
"That's right! You tell her!" Moira cheered as she jogged toward the two girls. "We're young! We're supposed to play violent games and come home all scraped up!"  
  
"Still," Emma put in quietly, "there is something to be said for avoiding daily injuries."  
  
"You ought to lighten up too, Emma. You're only twenty-two. You don't have to take all the responsibility of the world onto your shoulders quite yet," Moira informed her cousin seriously.  
  
"I'm not trying to. I simply think that-"  
  
"Anyway, you're not going to run the errand up to the farmhouse. You're going to neglect that in a shameless manner and get someone else to do it while we go back to our game." Then she turned to Lucca and Marle, who were in the process of trying to get the little bits of grass out of Marle's long blonde ponytail. "Alright, why don't you girls take ten? Mum wants one of us to run up to the farmyard to tell father that he's to bring some flour back from the house. I figure, you two have taken enough punishment; you deserve a break."  
  
"Moira!" Emma admonished. "Be nice!"  
  
"I AM being nice! Didn't I just say that we're giving them a break from being beaten up by the kids?"  
  
"Great. Thanks, Moira," Lucca muttered mock-resentfully. "So, where are they, anyway?"  
  
"Just up in the yard. They're doing some repairs on the barn; it's been as good as destroyed by all that rain we had a while back. Really, you can't miss 'em."  
  
"A bunch of sweaty guys surrounded by tools, climbing all over a barn?" Marle giggled. "Doesn't sound like it."  
  
"Not unless you're stone blind," Emma agreed.  
  
"And even then, you'd have to be deaf not to follow the streams of curses every time one of them gets their thumb in the way of the hammer and the nail," Lucca added, snickering.  
  
"Great. Now, go on, while we get back to our game, and CRUSH THE OTHER TEAM INTO DUST!" Moira howled before growling most ridiculously, motioning her team to join in.  
  
"She's an interesting character, isn't she?" Marle noted, shaking her head.  
  
Emma sighed.  
  
"You've said a mouthful..."  
  
With that, she turned and jogged over the field to take her position.  
  
Lucca turned to Marle.  
  
"Well? Shall we?"  
  
  
  
  
  
"Oh...my goodness. Lucca, look at that!"  
  
The scientist glanced in the direction that her friend was staring, utterly transfixed...and bit back a laugh as her eyes lit on the cause.  
  
Crono had followed the example set by many of the men and, beneath the sweltering heat of mid-afternoon, had tossed his shirt to the side long ago. At this moment, he was lifting an armload of planks, which seemed to be heavy enough to tense the muscles of his shoulders and back as he straightened up. His hair was damp with sweat, and the skin exposed by the absence of anything remotely shirt-like glistened beneath the glare of the sun.  
  
Then, shaking her head, she turned to peer at Marle again. The blonde's bright green eyes seemed to be slightly glazed.  
  
"Eh...Marle? You're starting to drool."  
  
She made a show of lifting an edge of her skirt and wiping the corner of the other girl's mouth.  
  
"Dear lord, Lucca, have you ever SEEN anything like that?"  
  
"Marle, he's just a guy!" she said with a shrug, quite conveniently forgetting her own similar reaction of a few days ago to a certain...blue- haired somebody in quite the same attire.  
  
"But...but...LOOK! How can you see that, and NOT melt?!"  
  
"He's Crono! For me to be drooling over him would be like...like...Emma drooling over Rowan!"  
  
"Um...who?"  
  
"Her brother. That guy."  
  
"Ooh...wow..."  
  
"You...have the attention span of a moth. You know that, right?"  
  
"Hey, I'm just appreciating the view."  
  
"Here. Appreciate that view," Lucca suggested, taking Marle's shoulders and turning her slightly to gaze at Crono again.  
  
Marle, it seemed didn't need to be told twice, and once again, her expression became dreamy and her eyes glazed over.  
  
Shaking her head, Lucca reflected that she'd better get the message delivered on her own if they wanted to at all. She had just taken her first step to do so when a voice called out from behind her,  
  
"So, come to lend a hand, eh, girls?"  
  
"Oh, hey, Rowan," she greeted quickly as the young man tossed his hammer to one side and striding toward her. "Er, you wanna take a message to your dad for us?"  
  
"Sure. What's up?"  
  
"You mom wants a bag of flour from the farmhouse."  
  
"Alright, I'll let him know." Then, peering around her, he laughed. "Uh, is she okay?"  
  
She turned and followed his gaze to a statue-still Marle.  
  
"Yeah, she's fine."  
  
"Heat-stroke?"  
  
"Eh...something like that," she agreed, gesturing to Crono.  
  
"Ah. Gotcha," he grinned. "Well, better get back to work. Bye."  
  
"Yup."  
  
When he'd gone, Lucca made her way back over to Marle.  
  
"Hey! Marle!" she barked, waving a hand in front of the blonde's eyes. "We should get back."  
  
"But I don't wanna!" Marle whimpered, eyes still firmly fixed on Crono.  
  
"Deal with it," Lucca said sternly. "If we don't get going soon, they'll think we're weird or something."  
  
"But I don't wanna!"  
  
"Marle, for Gods' sake-"  
  
"Lucca? Marle? What are you two doing here?"  
  
Lucca looked up in the direction of the voice's origin.  
  
"Oh, hey, Magus," she greeted. "We were just here to deliver a message, and Marle got a little...distracted."  
  
"Er...right. Bloody idiot blonde," he muttered.  
  
"She's not the only one known to drool over a good-looking man," she informed him with mock sternness.  
  
He raised a curious eyebrow.  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Well, yeah! It's a common pastime."  
  
"That's sick. You do realize that, right?"  
  
"Why is guy-watching any sicker than girl-watching?"  
  
"A point, I suppose."  
  
"Of course it is! Now, I'd better go try to snap her out of it."  
  
"Before you do, Lucca, don't go too far after we finish helping with clean- up after supper. I need to talk to you."  
  
"Um...okay," she agreed as he turned to leave, trying to force back the rush of colour that she was uncomfortably certain was staining her cheeks, and trying to deny to herself the reason that her heart had just sped up and her palms had just slick and gone cold. After all, why bother hope when he would likely just change his mind about talking and tell her to wait a few days again? Then she turned back to the princess. "Hey, Marle? Are you ready to go yet?"  
  
"Oh, sure," Marle agreed so mildly that Lucca immediately began to worry, particularly upon noticing the devious glint that flashed into her eye.  
  
This, it was safe to say, would suck.  
  
  
  
  
  
"So," Marle began, breaking a short silence. "What do you think Magus needs to talk to you about tonight?"  
  
"Probably nothing," Lucca replied shortly. "I've been trying to get him to talk to me for days, and it hasn't happened yet."  
  
"Really? And what's all this about?" the other girl inquired, raising one finely plucked eyebrow.  
  
"Please, don't ask," she groaned. "I'd really rather not talk about it."  
  
"I'll let you off the hook for now," Marle conceded. "But don't think you've gotten out of telling me what's going on here forever."  
  
"I'll...I'll keep it in mind."  
  
  
  
  
  
It seemed throughout that day that the gods had smiled upon Lucca, and were thus against Marle ever finding out what was going on. They had no further opportunity to share 'girl secrets,' as Marle put it, much to the disgust of Lucca, for the rest of that afternoon, as they found themselves re- enlisted into the football game nearly the moment they got back.  
  
For once, Lucca could honestly claim to be glad for the propensity of the younger Kaeries for sports.  
  
By the time the game had ended, Emma's mother, Jade and Moira's mother, Cecily were waiting, and sternly informed the young athletes that they were to go wash up immediately, or they, Jade and Cecily, would take no responsibility for their, the children's, going hungry should all the food be gone by the time they decided to saunter on past.  
  
The evening meal, as it tended to be, was a noisy, chaotic affair, in which it had been by pure luck that Marle, Crono, and Lucca had even found each other. Being given a chance for a quiet, private conversation - and thus the opportunity for Marle to pick information out of Lucca - was quite unthinkable.  
  
For this, Lucca was most glad, as Marle certainly wouldn't have found it difficult to guess what was on her mind, what with the way her gaze kept straying to a certain tall, blue-haired somebody whenever her attention was not completely absorbed in something else.  
  
And then, by the time the meal was over, the recollection of Crono with his shirt off, glistening with sweat, had obviously returned to the young blonde woman, and neither her nor the redhead were anywhere to be seen.  
  
For this, Lucca was also most glad, if fighting the urge to bash her head against a wall to distract it from the mental images.  
  
At that point, though, a voice called to her, and all other thoughts left her mind in a great whoosh.  
  
"Lucca. Wait a moment."  
  
She stopped dead and turned. 'Well, I'll be damned,' a quiet, flippant voice in the back of her mind chuckled. 'We're actually going to talk when he said we would?'  
  
"Um...yeah?"  
  
"Come back here and sit. We had planned to talk tonight, hadn't we?"  
  
Turning slowly, she started back in a partial daze. There was something in his tone that sent her heart racing instantly, until she thought she'd pass out. Settling herself on the ground next to him before the massive communal bonfire in the centre of the camp, she gazed at him questioningly. For a time, he simply stared back, his eyes locked on hers, as though trying to say what he had to in a look. Then, finally, he spoke.  
  
"I know it isn't any secret that, throughout this ordeal, there has been a shift in the way each of us thinks of the other. You've brought it up more than once, and I was wrong to try to ignore it. I've recently...realized that somewhere along the way, I have come to think more of you than I ever wanted to, and it definitely isn't something that can be ignored, much as I might prefer it that way."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
Perhaps because of the darkness, perhaps because of his own eagerness to simply get said what he had to, or perhaps simply because he was blessed with the utter obtuseness that men in every time and place throughout history have shared, he missed the dangerous flash that came into her eyes at this, missed the contrasting hint of ice in her tone. Had he been more aware, he would have thought to reword his next statement. However, he was not aware, and as such, rushed recklessly on.  
  
"Yes. This is a most unfortunate situation, for both of us, I expect."  
  
"...Unfortunate."  
  
"Well, of course. Lavos still exists, and the last thing I need is a woman hanging about to distract me from my goal of his demise. Especially one so...distracting as you. But I have been thinking a lot about these past weeks, and I've come to the conclusion that the only way to deal with what has happened between us is for us to marry once Lavos has been defeated. That way, I can watch you, insure your safety, and be certain that you are not being used against me."  
  
As he came to the end of this carefully planned speech, he looked at her expectantly. No reply was forthcoming.  
  
"Well?" he finally prompted. "Do you agree?"  
  
Lucca took a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm herself, aware that fury was probably making her go a strange mottled purple. Then, with a tight control that did little to still the shaking of her voice, she spoke.  
  
"No. I don't agree."  
  
"...What?"  
  
"First of all, you arrogant prick, Lavos is not only your responsibility. If you wouldn't mind using that little tiny royal brain of yours, you'll remember that we're all just as much a part of this as you are! Including me! DON'T even bother telling me that you have more of a stake in it than I do; I know you were going to, so don't bother denying it, either. And second, if having me around would be such an annoyance to you, well, then don't do me any favours!"  
  
"I have explained to you what my reasons are..."  
  
"Yes, you have! You've explained that, through no fault of your own, you've come to care for me when it's probably the worst thing that could happen, and you've tried to stop it, and though it'll probably be for the worse, you want to marry me!"  
  
"I don't WANT to marry you; I've got to."  
  
Ooh...a bad move, Magus, the powers that be thought to themselves as they looked down upon the happy little scene and munching their popcorn. Lucca's eyes narrowed.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I must have you where I can watch you. I have many enemies, Lucca. You know that. Many enemies who will not hesitate to use you against me if in any way they can! I must prevent that from happening."  
  
"By dressing me in a white dress and veil and saying 'I do?' Yeah, right. How inconspicuous. Don'tcha think it'd make more sense to part ways and never speak again?"  
  
Amid the sharp sense of something close to panic that shot through him at those words, he completely missed the sound of tears fresh in her voice as she spoke them.  
  
"No," he said quietly, as by this point, rationality was not the man's main influence. "I don't."  
  
"Why the hell not?! We've already established that you don't want to marry me; you don't even want me around."  
  
"How many times must I say it?"  
  
"It's an act of charity. Yes, I know. Well, don't worry about it. I'll take care of myself, thanks."  
  
With that, she stood and stalked toward their tent, her heart plummeting toward the ground at a rather nauseating velocity at the thought of sharing a bed with him tonight, after this. Dammit! Why did this sort of thing always happen to her? Every time it looked like she was coming somewhere near getting what she wanted, something had to ruin it! Or, if not that, it had to happen in the most ridiculous, insulting way possible.  
  
"Screw you, asshole. Keep your damn sympathy to yourself. The role of the benevolent hero doesn't suit you," she muttered, swiping away the angry tears rolling down her cheeks, and then changing hurriedly into a nightgown and folding her clothes carefully. She gazed at the loose ruffled white blouse and the heavy wine-red wool skirt scornfully. Stupid skirt. She'd be glad when they left these weirdoes and she could go back to her own comfy clothes. No more watching how she sat, making sure her skirt was folded decently beneath her, making sure that the silly off-the-shoulders blouse didn't slip so low as to be off her chest, as well.  
  
With these musings, carefully programmed to distract her from others, she pulled back the patchwork crazy quilt and slipped beneath it, settling herself close to comfortably on the bed-pallet.  
  
  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, Magus continued to sit before the fire, fully intending to stay there until long after she was asleep. Leaning on his hand, he stared unseeingly into the dancing flames, his mind filled instead with the unaccountable expression of anger and pain on her face when he had asked her to be his wife. His wife. Could he really stand that for the rest of his natural life? Somehow, as his mind drifted back to the times they had fallen asleep holding one another for warmth, comfort, what ever had been the need, he thought that he could. Not that it mattered, though.  
  
It certainly hadn't gone as he had planned. Perhaps he should have kissed her again, and then asked her. He smirked slightly, completely unaware of the fond warmth filling his crimson eyes as he recalled exactly how compliant she had been after that incident with the mountain lion when, unable to contain his relief that she had come through alive, he had pulled her tightly against him and kissed her fiercely. She had been surprisingly receptive when, immediately afterward, still holding her tightly, he had proceeded to shout at her several none to gentle requests that she be more careful in future, that she stop doing these damn fool things before, some day when he wasn't around to help her, she got herself killed.  
  
And then there had been that incident several days previous...  
  
What in the hell had been her problem, anyway? He knew- KNEW - that she cared for him. Even a girl so uncomfortable with such matters had a way of letting a man know these things. So, why had her reception to his suggestion been so cold?  
  
Well, he firmly told himself, it didn't matter particularly to him. It was simply as a favour to the little chit that he had offered as all. She was a fool to reject such an offer. Didn't she remember who he was? If she wanted to leave herself open to danger from his enemies and be left alone to get out of it, let her!  
  
He pushed from his mind the recollection that he really had no enemies to speak of anymore; that anyone he had once considered as such was either dead, or assumed him to be so. Suddenly, he was startled from his thoughts as a familiar voice called out from behind him, and Crono plunked down next to him.  
  
"Hey, Magus. Why the long face? Oh, right; you're Magus. Okay, stupid question."  
  
Magus lifted his head to glare at the young man.  
  
"Do you mind?"  
  
"Do I mind? Not at all," replied the oblivious Crono.  
  
"Then will you please leave me alone?"  
  
"Okay, you are in a bad mood. More than usual. What happened, anyway?"  
  
"Is it your business?"  
  
"Sure, it is! We're friends, right?"  
  
"Don't be ridiculous," the sorcerer intoned darkly. Then he sighed. "If you must know, I asked Lucca a question, and she became...very angry."  
  
"Oh, no," Crono sighed. "You didn't ask her why she hasn't hit puberty yet, did you?"  
  
"I asked you not to be ridiculous," Magus growled. "No, I asked her...something else."  
  
"What? C'mon, man, don't leave me hanging! What did you ask her?"  
  
"I...asked her to marry me."  
  
Having made the unfortunate decision to take a sip of water from his canteen at that point, Crono choked, the water erupting from his mouth in a spray that made the flames spit and flicker.  
  
"You WHAT?!" he demanded, wiping his mouth.  
  
"You heard me, you idiot."  
  
"Well, yeah, I HEARD you, but...why?"  
  
"Why else? I want to marry her."  
  
"Why did she get mad at that? I mean, shocked, I'd understand that..."  
  
"Damned if I know."  
  
"Yeah, women, right?"  
  
"Mmm. Now that you know, you can leave, right?"  
  
"Yeah...yeah, I'm going," Crono agreed, standing to leave. After all, he didn't want to test his luck with an angry Magus. He had gone through enough in the past few days, what with heading off the fights between Frog and Ayla, Marle and Ayla, Robo and Ayla, himself and Ayla, random waiters and Ayla, and innocent animals on the street and Ayla, insisting to Robo that he shouldn't go start his own Real World (tm), and the like. "See yuh. Oh, we're gonna try to set out early tomorrow. I wouldn't mind staying, but Marle and I don't want to leave the rest of the group alone too much longer."  
  
"Right," Magus replied, not turning from the fire. Thank the gods. Maybe he could get a little peace now, re-accustom himself to the idea of spending the coming years alone, as well as figure out exactly how he was to share a bed with the little chit until they left without touching her.  
  
'No, on second thought, damn the gods,' the wizard corrected himself darkly as another voice rang out behind him, decidedly more female than Crono, and more cheery that...anyone in the universe.  
  
"Magus! Is Crono telling the truth? Did you really..."  
  
"Why the hell do you care?" he demanded, whirling about to scowl darkly at the quickly approaching Marle. "Nothing's going to come of it; she's made that abundantly clear that she will NOT marry me."  
  
"Marry...you? Who? What are you talking about?"  
  
"Uh...what are YOU talking about?"  
  
"I...was just wondering if you guys really got attacked by a mountain lion. But this sounds more interesting. Who did you ask to marry you?!"  
  
"Never mind."  
  
"Oh, no! I don't think so! Not after all that! And anyway, it's SO obvious that it's Lucca!"  
  
"Who else?" he growled. "Now that you know, go away."  
  
"No way! You proposed to Lucca, but she WON'T marry you?"  
  
"Correct."  
  
"Why?!"  
  
"I don't know!"  
  
"There's gotta be a reason."  
  
"Could it be that...she doesn't want to marry me?"  
  
"No, it isn't that," Marle replied absently, deep in thought as she slid onto the bench next to the warlock.  
  
"What? How would you know that?" he demanded contemptuously. With a sigh, Marle turned to him.  
  
"Look, Magus, I know that everyone except maybe Crono, thinks I'm just some brainless blonde. But this time I really do know what I'm talking about. I KNOW she likes you. A lot. And that was even before you guys got sent away! And if you were asking her to marry you, you must have gotten a lot closer. Heck, I know from watching the two of you that you've gotten a lot closer. So, there's got to be some reason that you don't know about that she refused."  
  
"And I suppose you're going to stay here and help me discover it?" he inquired darkly.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Of course! Now," and she was business-like in a second, "tell me exactly what you said to her."  
  
"What?! I don't see how that will-"  
  
"Oh, will you just do it?!"  
  
"Fine," he huffed. "I think I said that throughout this situation, I'd come to care for her, and I wanted to marry her so that I could keep her where I could keep an eye on her, to insure that she wasn't used against me."  
  
"In other words, totally for her own good?"  
  
"Well, yes."  
  
"Okay, that was probably stupid, but Lucca's smart enough to know that you're a patronizing jerk. What else? Think carefully. What would have upset her?"  
  
"I have no idea."  
  
"Then you aren't thinking hard enough!"  
  
"Quite a laughable statement, coming from you," he remarked icily.  
  
"Never mind that! What did you say to her?"  
  
Eyes rolling heavenward, he thought for a moment.  
  
"Well, I...said that it was unfortunate that we'd...learned to care."  
  
"You said WHAT?!"  
  
"You heard me."  
  
"Of course I heard you, but...you didn't!"  
  
"Yes, I did. And what's wrong with it?"  
  
"You told her you'd fallen for her, and then talked about it as if it were the worst thing that had ever happened to you, and you wonder WHY she got angry?! Men!"  
  
Magus stood to leave.  
  
"Look, I don't know what business you feel it is of yours why she is angry with me, or what I may have said to her, but I certainly am not going to stay here and listen to you berate me for it."  
  
"Oh, will you sit down?" Marle exclaimed.  
  
"We've covered this. No, I won't."  
  
"Magus! Just...hear me out, okay?"  
  
"I've heard enough."  
  
"Please! Give me a minute!"  
  
He crossed his arms, silent as he considered. Then, with a sigh,  
  
"Fine. Talk."  
  
Marle thought for a moment.  
  
"Look, you love her, don't you?"  
  
Magus didn't answer in words, but the sudden tighter clench of his jaw, as well as the slightly more defensive posture, answered effectively for him.  
  
"That's what I thought," the lovely blonde said with a nod of satisfaction. "Now, she's mad at you right now, and I can understand why, but she loves you, too. She's just a little hurt that you're talking about her as an inconvenience."  
  
"It's true, though. Such things are inconveniences. With her around, I can't concentrate. She...is a considerable distraction."  
  
"You can't expect a girl to be very receptive right after you've told her that you don't want her around!"  
  
"Hmph! I simply thought that she was intelligent enough not to be blinded by silly romantic ideas."  
  
"Okay, she may be, like, freaky-smart, but she's still a girl!"  
  
"I know," Magus replied a little too quickly, and Marle giggled. He scowled darkly at her. "Shut up."  
  
"Okay, fine, fine. Anyway, you know what you have to do, right?"  
  
"You're finally going to tell me how to get rid of you?"  
  
"No! You're going to go apologize to her!"  
  
"No, I am NOT."  
  
"You've GOT to! She's just as stubborn as she is smart, and if you don't tell her you're sorry, you'll lose her forever!"  
  
"A little melodramatic, wouldn't you say? I suppose you relish this kind of thing; well, kindly try to remember that this time, you're dealing with real people, not some silly novel."  
  
"Of course I remember that! And I'm not being melodramatic. Honestly, Magus, do you want to spend the rest of your life wondering what you've lost because you're both too proud and stubborn for your own good? Think about that."  
  
Magus was silent for a moment, thinking accordingly. Marle continued.  
  
"And how would you feel if you got to find out some years down the road that one of your enemies got to her after all?"  
  
In her secret mind, Marle didn't believe for a second that Lucca was in any danger from anyone that might be after Magus, but Marle was wise in her own way, and knew that on occasion, one must humour the men of the world.  
  
He shook his head with a sigh of defeat.  
  
"Fine. I'm going, if only to get the hell away from you."  
  
"Great!" Marle chirped, beaming.  
  
Rolling his eyes, he turned and stalked toward the tent.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Hey, Marle," Crono greeted the lovely blonde, plunking down next to her in front of the fire. Once settled, he glanced sideways at her a wee bit reproachfully. "So, what were you two talking about for so long?"  
  
"Oh," Marle replied with a wink, "this and that."  
  
"Uh...this and that?"  
  
"Yeah! I just helped a couple very stubborn people get over their stupid stubbornness."  
  
Crono blinked.  
  
"What're you talking about?"  
  
She wound an arm about his waist, snuggling against his shoulder.  
  
"Never mind, honey."  
  
  
  
  
  
Notes: [Sweatdrop] Wow...this is a long chapter, even for me. But, that is beside the point.  
  
Okay, I'm not sure if I made Magus too much of a twit here. I have this uncomfortable feeling that I did...but I wanted so badly to use this scene, and it's the sort of arrogant, head-up-his-own-ass thing that I could see him doing. I argue this for hours on end, should anyone be inclined to do so. ^_^  
  
Oh, and I think that somewhere along the way, this became rather men-bashy. I don't know why; I'm not a men-basher at all. If anyone thinks that this (the bashing) is a big detriment to the story, let me know and I'll try to rewrite this chapter. If I get a lot of feedback saying that this chapter is horrendously melodramatic, and Magus and Lucca have just deteriorated into idiocy, I may rewrite it anyway.  
  
Thanks! ^_^ 


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 - Final Chapter! Yaay!  
  
  
  
"Lucca," Magus called softly, but in a voice that demanded to be heeded.  
  
Apparently this quality of the voice escaped her, for there was no response from the unmoving lump on the far side of the bed pallet. Rolling his eyes slightly, he tried again.  
  
"Lucca."  
  
Still no response.  
  
"Lucca, get up."  
  
The staggering lack of response from the young woman was beginning to irk him slightly.  
  
"I know you aren't asleep. There's no way you could have fallen asleep so quickly," he stated severely, his annoyance sky-rocketing at the knowledge that the severity of his tone wasn't moving her at all. "Lucca!"  
  
When it became apparent that raising his voice would yield no result, Magus decided to try for another approach. Crossing the room in three strides, he nodded inwardly with satisfaction as the previously unmoving lump jerked slightly at the sound of his footsteps, then grew still once more.  
  
'A noble try, girl,' he thought, 'but of course you realize, you're a ghastly actor.'  
  
Rather than follow his first instinct, to yank her out of the bed by her hair and pin her firmly in place until she agreed to stay and listen - after all, he was quickly beginning to realize that Lucca did not give people the silent treatment for fun, and that although it was a mystery to him exactly how, his words earlier had genuinely hurt her - he seated himself carefully at the edge of the bed and waited.  
  
And waited.  
  
And waited.  
  
'Oh, enough of this,' he decided, pawing through the blankets until a mop of purple made itself apparent.  
  
Before he could touch her, though, she sat bolt upright, startling him. As her eyes fixed on his, blazing with anger and pain, he began to think that perhaps this had been a mistake. This idea re-established itself in his mind as she hissed at him,  
  
"Will you go away?!"  
  
"I can't; I sleep here, remember?"  
  
"I've left you plenty of room. You have no reason to talk to me."  
  
He sighed, closing his eyes briefly.  
  
"Lucca, listen to me. I...I may have spoken hastily earlier."  
  
"Don't worry; I didn't take your 'offer' seriously, if that's what you mean," she snorted, staring down at the suddenly fascinating section of quilt bunched up in her hands.  
  
He felt something within him clench as a single crystalline drop splashed from her cheek to the fabric, soaking in quickly. Why did he seem capable only of hurting this girl? Perhaps it was honestly best for both to part ways...  
  
He squelched this thought nearly as soon as it arose in his mind and reaching for the quilt, gently disentangled it from her hands.  
  
"Look at me."  
  
Shaking her head minutely, she set to work looking anywhere but.  
  
"If I asked again, would you take it seriously?" he murmured, not particularly anxious to prolong this any more than was necessary.  
  
She crossed her arms tightly, looking away from him even more pointedly.  
  
"It doesn't matter how many times you ask. If you don't really want to me around, then it'll only make both our lives hell if I stay with you."  
  
"But I do want you around."  
  
"That isn't what you said earlier."  
  
"I didn't mean exactly what I said earlier."  
  
"Then why did you say it?" she demanded.  
  
He was satisfied to note, though, that despite the guardedness in her tone, the sparkle of anger had gone out of her eyes, and the pools of blue now looked more hurt and weary that anything else. With a sigh, he placed a hand cautiously on her back. She flinched slightly, but did not draw away, as he answered.  
  
"That isn't the sort of conversation that I'm used to having, and..."  
  
"And what?"  
  
"And I suppose that...I may have sounded a little inconsiderate."  
  
"Like I said, though, it doesn't really matter how you said it, if it means the same thing."  
  
"Which is?"  
  
"That you only want to bring me with you out of some sense of obligation."  
  
"That isn't why I want to bring you with me."  
  
"Why, then?"  
  
After a long pause, he began to speak in a low, barely audible voice.  
  
"I want to bring you with me, not because of any obligation, but because I can't imagine you not being a part of my life. Not anymore."  
  
Another silence, during which a spark of hope was lit.  
  
"You can't?"  
  
"No."  
  
She sat utterly still for a moment, barely daring to breathe, heart racing until she thought she might keel over and end the awkwardness of this moment, warm and hopeful though it had become.  
  
"Why?" she finally asked.  
  
"Because I love you," he murmured, voice shaking slightly.  
  
She could have sworn there were fireworks going off behind her eyes, if to declare such a thing wouldn't have been to land herself neatly in a nut- house. Of course, now she could rest assured that Magus and that silly farm implement of his would come and break her out, but...  
  
"Do you mean that?" she asked softly.  
  
"Do you think I would have said it just for fun?"  
  
"No, I guess not. The idea of you doing anything just for fun is completely inconceivable," she agreed with a small, tentative smile.  
  
He glared.  
  
"Not so very inconceivable."  
  
"Yeah, right. When have you ever done anything for fun?"  
  
"It has been known to happen."  
  
"Sure. Like what?"  
  
"Well," he began, sliding his hand up into her hair and tilting her head back, "like this, for example..."  
  
She gave a startled whimper as he bit down lightly on the soft flesh at the juncture between neck and shoulder, working his way over her collarbone, until his tongue darted out to explore the hollow at the base of her throat.  
  
"You should really give a girl some time to seethe," she murmured faintly, pulling back slightly.  
  
With a low growl, he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap.  
  
"You've had enough, I should think."  
  
"And YOU'VE never been pissed off at someone for being a stubborn, pig- headed, arrogant - mfph!"  
  
The last part of this statement was not a sure sign that Lucca had lost her mind at last and descended into spouting gibberish. Rather, it was a sure sign that speaking coherently becomes rather difficult when one's mouth is being covered by another person's, particularly when that person's tongue is gently nudging one's own mouth open.  
  
Of course, due to said mouth covering her own, Lucca quite forgot to be annoyed that she had been interrupted in the middle of making some very good points about why she should still be allowed to seethe. Indeed, her heart hammering so frantically that she was sure he must feel it where their bodies were pressed intimately together, the delightful prickles that went through her every time the hand he had tangled in her hair brushed lightly against her neck, the aching bolt of heat that arrowed through her, stoking into existence a need that she hadn't quite expected to exist in her, as she shifted against his lap, were all making such matters insignificant.  
  
With a shudder of delight as his tongue lightly traced her lip, she ground her hips against his, only partly involuntarily. She was quite thrilled at his response as she found herself flipped abruptly over and onto the bed pallet and pinned in place by his hands on her shoulders.  
  
An incoherent noise of pleasure caught in her throat, muffled by his mouth open on hers, as his hand drifted down from her shoulder to stroke the side of her breast through her nightgown.  
  
At the sound, he slid his other hand up from her shoulder to wind her hair around his hand, gripping the back of her head tightly, and kissing her more deeply. Recovering her powers of movement at last, she wrapped one arm around him, her hand moving up and down his back, her other hand sliding up into his hair.  
  
Although it seemed to go on forever, the two of them lying entwined, hearts pounding together, breath mingling, hands exploring what could be easily exposed without losing the contact of mouth on mouth, she felt that it hadn't been nearly long enough when he carefully detached her arms from around him and sat up, then pulled her up after him.  
  
She gazed at him quizzically, and was on the point of asking aloud what was wrong, when he brought one hand to the side of her face, his thumb stroking her temple, then her cheek, and then her lips. With a sound remarkably like a purr, she leaned into the caress, and almost immediately, his hand slid down over her shoulder, down her arm, over her hip, to grasp the hem of her nightgown.  
  
Instantly, she froze as he began to slide the thin fabric up over her legs. Oh, lord...was this really going to happen? Somehow, seeing it on the verge of happening was quite different from simply thinking about it as a distant possibility.  
  
Apparently, the unease in her eyes had been apparent, for he drew back and peered searchingly into her eyes.  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
She nodded emphatically, but apparently, he wasn't convinced.  
  
"Worried?"  
  
"A little," she admitted. "I've never done this before, y'know."  
  
"I'm not exactly the world's leading expert myself," he told her dryly, tracing absent patterns over the side of her leg.  
  
She smiled slightly. That was something, at least.  
  
Looking more closely at her, he held her shoulder gently.  
  
"Do you want to forget about this?"  
  
"No!" she assured him.  
  
He chuckled softly.  
  
"Well. Alright, then. We'll go slowly. And you're to tell me immediately if you have any doubts, or if anything hurts."  
  
"I'm not getting my teeth drilled, y'know," she reminded him pertly.  
  
"It's good to know that you aren't worried enough to keep you from making your trademark smart-ass remarks," he said with a mock-glare.  
  
She giggled, and he caught his breath as a sparkle of mirth lit up her eyes, and a flush of colour crept into her cheeks. Leaning in, he pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss, and then lifted her nightgown up over her head.  
  
  
  
At first, she shivered in the night air that was growing cooler every day with the oncoming winter, but coldness didn't prove to be a problem for very long as he drew her to him for another kiss, and they fell back against the covers, clinging tightly to one another, parting only long enough for him to get rid of his own bothersome clothes that seemed to be getting in the way.  
  
'Damn clothes,' she thought, throwing a cold glare at his pants, currently flying across the tent.  
  
Then, as he slid one hand down her body, all coherent thought seemed to escape her.  
  
Who needed coherent thought, anyway?  
  
  
  
  
  
"Well?" he asked some time later as they stretched out together, the blankets pulled up around them to guard against the chill night air not quite kept out by the flap of canvas over the doorway of the tent as the heat between them dissipated for the time being.  
  
"Well, what?" she asked, stretching languorously, more for an excuse to rub against him playfully than anything.  
  
Drawing in a sharp breath, he ran a hand down her spine and cupped her backside gently, pulling her more tightly against him and murmuring against her ear in between the light kisses that he was trailing over her temple.  
  
"What do you think? Do you agree that we should travel together after this is all over?"  
  
She stared up at him incredulously.  
  
"Of course I agree!" she exclaimed. "I thought you knew that!"  
  
"I don't think we had stated it explicitly."  
  
"Anyway, you've got to marry me now," she reminded him, kissing his chest lightly, ignoring his statement. "You have to make an honest woman of me."  
  
"You're already honest to a fault. If you were to be any more so, it could be hazardous to you and everyone who knows you."  
  
"Oh, shut up!"  
  
"It's true, isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah, but what's wrong with honesty?" she huffed.  
  
"Nothing, under the right circumstances."  
  
"There's never a time that outright deception is completely justified."  
  
"Whatever you say. Now," he said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, eliciting a shiver as he traced lightly over the ridge with the tip of his finger, "go to sleep. We're leaving early tomorrow."  
  
"Has Crono said what the immediate plan is once we get back?"  
  
He sighed.  
  
"We're spending another couple days training - the boy doesn't seem to think that we're working as a cohesive team satisfactorily-"  
  
"I wonder if he knows what cohesive means," she mused.  
  
"Of course I do!"  
  
"Not you; Crono."  
  
"Ah. Now, that is doubtful."  
  
"So, after another few days of training, we're going after Lavos?"  
  
She felt rather than saw his nod, felt his chin brush against the top of her hair.  
  
"Wow...I can't believe we're almost there."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Well, it's just been the ultimate goal for so long now, that I can't really imagine not working towards it. What's life going to be like after this, when we're not chasing all over the world, heck, all through time, training to be good enough to bring down Lavos?"  
  
He sighed.  
  
"To be honest, I have no idea. It does feel like there'll be...nothing. Just existence."  
  
"Of course, 'just existence' might not be so bad," she murmured, snuggling closer to him.  
  
He placed a hand carefully on the back of her head and smiled.  
  
"No, it might not. Now, go to sleep."  
  
  
  
  
  
The next morning was a somewhat hectic one. None of the four travellers awoke until the sun was high in the sky, thus delaying the early start that Crono had wanted by at least three hours.  
  
"Damn, damn, damn, DAMN!" he muttered emphatically, trying to gather together his things as quickly as possible with one hand, while trying to feed himself a piece of bread slathered with butter and brown sugar that Hannah had insisted upon with the other. "You know, Marle, you could have woken me up."  
  
"I could have," she agreed with a playful wink from her perch on the bed pallet of their tent, "but you're just so cute when you're flustered."  
  
He stopped still and turned to glare at her.  
  
"I'll show you flustered," he promised, advancing on her, hiding a devious grin.  
  
"Eep!" Marle eeped, darting away.  
  
And thus, the much-anticipated early start was delayed by another hour.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Hey, where do you think Crono and Marle are?" Lucca asked Magus as they sat side by side on one of the benches surrounding the massive fire pit. "I thought he wanted to head out early this morning."  
  
"He did," Magus said, glancing about impatiently.  
  
"So, he makes us get up early-"  
  
"Not that we did," he reminded her with a tiny smirk.  
  
"Yeah, well, that's beside the point. I'm gonna give him hell about this," she grumbled.  
  
"Only after I'm done with him."  
  
"Hey there, you two!" Moira chirped as she bounded over to them. "Looking for your friends?"  
  
"Er, yeah," Lucca nodded. "Have you seen them?"  
  
Moira winked.  
  
"I wouldn't expect them for another half hour or so."  
  
"Um...why?"  
  
"We-ell, I just went past their tent, and from the noises drifting out, they got a little...sidetracked in their packing."  
  
"Oh, for the love of the gods," Magus muttered, rolling his eyes.  
  
Moira raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
"And from the noises drifting out from YOUR tent last night, you two know all about that."  
  
At that, both crimsoned, Lucca glancing away with a sheepish smile and Magus shooting Moira a glare that should have slain her immediately, had looks possessed that power.  
  
"I take it you two talked things out?" the young brunette giggled. "Gran'll be pleased. Shall I go tell her?"  
  
With that, she gave them a wink and bounded away.  
  
Lucca shook her head, expelling a breath slowly.  
  
"She's got way too much energy for one person. It's admirable, really."  
  
"You've got your adjectives confused, Lucca. I think the word you're looking for is 'annoying.'"  
  
"No, that's the word YOU'RE looking for. I think she's fun."  
  
"And I think she's got rocks in her head."  
  
"Yeah, we've covered that."  
  
"Not as bad as our resident little princess, though."  
  
"Hmm...y'know, I knew Moira reminded me of someone. She's like a slightly less stuck up Marle."  
  
"Stuck up?" he repeated. "Do I sense a little ill will?"  
  
"Oh, c'mon. Being stuck up probably comes with being a princess. Er...I mean..."  
  
He smirked as she floundered slightly, trying to take back the ill thought out statement.  
  
"So, how does that foot taste?"  
  
"Oh, be quiet!" she huffed, seeing that he wasn't angry.  
  
But he wasn't listening. He was looking at something behind her.  
  
"Well. Look who's finally decided to arrive," he observed dryly.  
  
Lucca whirled about to see a very sheepish Crono and an equally sheepish Marle striding toward them, traveling bags slung over their backs.  
  
"Sorry about that, you two," Crono called. "I don't know what made us oversleep like that."  
  
"I'll hazard a guess," Lucca murmured.  
  
Magus raised an eyebrow at her, suppressing a smile. Then he turned his gaze back to the redhead.  
  
"Not important. If you're both ready, let's get moving, shall we?"  
  
"Hold on," Marle requested. "Lucca, let's go say goodbye to everyone!"  
  
"Well...I kinda already did that..."  
  
"You...did?" Marle frowned.  
  
"Yeah; while we were waiting for you two."  
  
"...Oh. Well, I haven't said goodbye, and I'd like to. So, come with me."  
  
"Ack!" Lucca shrieked as she found herself seized by the wrist and dragged across the camp toward the makeshift clothesline strung between two small trees, where Hannah was pegging laundry.  
  
  
  
"So," Crono muttered to the wizard as the girls raced off, "did you two get everything sorted out?"  
  
Magus glared at him.  
  
"What does it matter to you?"  
  
"Hello?! Lucca's best friend? Why wouldn't it matter to me?"  
  
"Yes, well, it isn't really your business."  
  
"Of course it is!"  
  
"Fine. Yes, we talked about things."  
  
"And...?" Crono pressed.  
  
"And what?" Magus demanded, annoyed.  
  
"And did she forgive you?"  
  
"...Yes."  
  
"Anything else you want to tell us?"  
  
"We're planning on remaining together once this is all over. I suppose that, some time after that, we'll marry. Does that suit you?"  
  
Crono beamed.  
  
"Congratulations. Are you gonna tell everyone once we get back to the rest of the group?"  
  
Magus shrugged somewhat uncomfortably.  
  
"What's wrong?" Crono wondered.  
  
"What do you think?" the older man snorted. "I'm a little concerned about what the others might think of this, for one. Not that I personally care for their opinions; I just don't want them to give her any trouble over it."  
  
"I wouldn't worry about that," Crono told him conspiratorially. "Marle's going to be thrilled, Ayla and Robo probably won't care one way or another, and Frog...well, Frog will deal with it. If you want something to worry about, worry about her parents."  
  
At this, Magus looked somewhat similar to someone who had swallowed a marble. The redhead choked back a laugh.  
  
"I'm kidding. They might not be thrilled at first about the age difference, but if I know them, they'll be ecstatic that someone else has 'seen through her carefully constructed disguise to the beautiful young woman hidden beneath.'"  
  
"They actually say these kinds of things?"  
  
"Yeah. It's strange, but they say them. I guess all parents do, a little bit."  
  
"To you?"  
  
Crono shrugged.  
  
"Like I said, they're a little weird."  
  
"Wonderful..."  
  
  
  
  
  
"Marle, seriously, you don't have to say goodbye to each and every one of the thirty people who live here, do you?" Lucca pleaded.  
  
Marle surveyed her in horror.  
  
"Lucca! You've lived with these people for the last month!"  
  
"Week and a half," Lucca corrected with a sigh.  
  
"Right, right, week and a half," Marle amended. "So, don't you want to say goodbye to them? You probably won't see them again! Oh, and don't go too far once we're done with that. I want to take a look at where that lion clawed you. I definitely want to heal it before we start training again."  
  
"You...are going to say goodbye to each and every one of the thirty people who live here."  
  
Marle nodded emphatically, bustling away.  
  
Lucca slumped forward in despair.  
  
  
  
  
  
But at last, all the goodbyes were said, and everything was gathered together, and everyone was gathered together, and with a collective grateful sigh, the four travelers started away from the camp.  
  
"Thank the Gods we're rid of that bunch," Magus sighed in something that would have been relief in any other person, but was, in him, merely the absence of annoyance.  
  
Lucca nodded emphatically.  
  
"No kidding! But, hey, at least they didn't make you wear a dress the whole time you were there!"  
  
"I thought you looked cute," Marle interjected with a giggle.  
  
"Shut up," Lucca requested with an icy glare. "You also think that stupid game the kids like to play is fun, so we're not trusting your judgement."  
  
"You're just mad because Keith almost broke your glasses by landing on you," Marle observed airily.  
  
"Well, wouldn't you be?!" that same glasses-wearing scientist sputtered indignantly.  
  
"Accidents happen, Lucca."  
  
"He did it four times! In one game!"  
  
"Kids will be kids. And I saw you laughing. You were having fun, and you know it."  
  
"Oh, fine," she huffed, hiding a smile. In truth, once she'd become used to the repeated impact to the head, it had been the most fun she'd had in years, not so much for the playing of the game itself, the purpose and supposed fun of which always escaped her, but just watching the group of children racing all over the field, and celebrating every minor victory in the game as though it were something incredible. "I had fun. What can I say? They're great kids."  
  
"Yeah, they are," Marle agreed. "Although, I think Moira's a little wacko."  
  
"Maybe she's had her head landed on by Keith one time too many," Lucca suggested with a snicker.  
  
"A nice way to talk about your new friends!" Marle exclaimed, eyes twinkling behind her tone of reproach.  
  
"Oh, I'm sure she's saying worse about me right now," Lucca assured her soothingly.  
  
"Probably," Marle agreed.  
  
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"  
  
  
  
"And once again, Robo is left with the job that no one else wanted. Robo truly is considered nothing more than a blemish on the party to these people. I wonder why I continue to stay with this group when they so obviously see me only as an easygoing tin can to stick with all the boring detail work," that same easygoing tin can muttered to himself as he stood outside a small inn within the quiet, unassuming little village of Estanobys.  
  
It had been three days since Marle and Crono had set out to find the camp alluded to by their source, in hopes of finding something of the whereabouts of Magus and Lucca, and Frog had decided that morning that someone should stand watch, waiting for them to return. Frog, Ayla, and Robo had drawn straws for the privilege, and the lot had fallen to the ever lucky Robo, who was currently cursing that luck to the skies.  
  
Indeed, it had crossed the mind of more than one of the robot's teammates to have Lucca take a look at him to find out if something had slipped out of place. Certainly, this constant dreariness and complaining was getting hard to take.  
  
Just as he was about to start on his patented speech detailing all the things that he intended to have in his OWN Real World (tm), he happened to pivot his head to just such a position that his optical sensors lit on four shapes approaching over a hill.  
  
"Well, look who finally decides to show up," Robo muttered resentfully, starting into the inn.  
  
  
  
  
  
Presently, Robo re-emerged from the inn, followed quickly by Frog and Ayla. The reunion between friends was long and joyous, and has been cut from this telling of this tale for budget reasons that our producers would as soon you not be aware of. Our producers are proud men...  
  
At any rate, let us jump ahead to the next scene.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Hah!" Frog gloated, leaping fluidly to the side to dodge a well-aimed blow. "What hast thou been doing whilst with the good farmers? Weaving baskets? Mine enemy, thou hast let thineself go!"  
  
His opponent said nothing, save to utter an irritated grumble.  
  
"If thou wantst to bring down Sir Glenn, thou must show skill far more impressive than THAT!"  
  
Ire up, Frog's opponent lunged at him, swinging madly. Frog leapt back, rather startled. This was quite unexpected.  
  
"Abandoned technique, have you? Hah! A good sign for me! Thou'rt becoming discouraged and angry, and with good reason, for I shalt never be - "  
  
Frog's slightly arbitrary speech of victory melted off into startled shout as a fist connected solidly with the side of his head. However, it only took him a moment to recover.  
  
"You hit like a girl," he taunted, laughing.  
  
"Maybe that's because I AM A GIRL!" Lucca shouted at him, quite at the end of her tether at last.  
  
Why, oh why, couldn't Crono have paired her up with someone else for hand- to-hand combat training? She knew full well that after what had happened that morning with Magus, she wouldn't find herself with him again.  
  
Crono had indeed placed the two together to train initially, his logic being that both were still recovering somewhat from illness, and Hannah had told him warningly not to let either of them push themselves too hard. And of course, both had such overblown senses of pride that neither would admit to their allotted partners that they needed to stop and rest. However, the way they were now, each could probably tell when the other was ready to stop and rest, and would not take no for an answer.  
  
A plan with no drawbacks.  
  
Or so it seemed.  
  
Apparently, increased pulse rate was rather generic in its effects, and ere three rounds of attacks had gone past, almost without any idea how it had happened, the two found themselves on the ground in a heated embrace, hands roaming in a way that had cause Crono to exclaim with horror when he happened past to see how they were doing.  
  
After this, it hardly need be stated that Lucca had found herself placed swiftly with a different partner.  
  
Still, she reflected, why had it had to be Frog? He was a wonderful friend when one needed to talk, and was kind and loyal nearly to a fault, but he was incredibly obnoxious when training, as he had learned at an early age that throwing taunts back and forth was a good way to get the ire, and thus the energy up between combatants.  
  
Not entirely his fault, but even Marle would have been a better partner, even though she had a strange habit of being very easily distracted when the danger wasn't real, and she probably would have lasted only five minutes before she absolutely HAD to hear what had gone on with Magus that last night before they had left the Kaerie's camp.  
  
By this time, Frog was smiling sheepishly at her.  
  
"I apologize, Friend Lucca. I forget occasionally where I am, and that thou hast not been trained the same way I have. Wouldst thou like to stop for a time? Dost thou need a cup of water? Rest here, and I shall go find you one."  
  
"Wait, Frog, that's fine, I don't need any - oh, well. He's gone," she finished with a sigh, dropping down to sit cross-legged on a tuft of grass.  
  
  
  
And thus went the next two weeks of rigorous training for our band of heroes.  
  
  
  
  
  
When, finally, all were confident enough in their own abilities, Crono that evening announced that the following morning would be it. They would gather together what they needed, and go face the creature, Lavos.  
  
  
  
"Wow..." Marle whispered as the Epoch came to a halt and the group clamoured from the tiny vehicle. "We're here."  
  
"Yeah," Crono agreed uneasily. "Alright; here's what we'll do. Frog and Robo, you two'll come with me. Marle, Lucca, Ayla, and Magus, you all wait here with the Epoch, all right? If anything really goes wrong, I want you to get the hell out of here."  
  
Marle stared at him, horrified, and was about to protest hotly when Lucca spoke up.  
  
"Um, Crono? I'm a little confused about something."  
  
"Go ahead, Lucca."  
  
"Why are only you three going? Wouldn't it be a lot easier if all of us went? Strength in numbers, right? And it's not like we're looking for a fair fight against the bringer of the Apocalypse, are we? Quick and dirty might be the best."  
  
Crono blinked.  
  
"You know what, Lucca? That's a really good point. Okay, new plan: we all go. Strategy: hit him until he dies. Does everyone have everything they need?"  
  
A collective murmur of affirmation arose from the group.  
  
The redheaded youth nodded in satisfaction, then sighed deeply and motioned for everyone to be quiet for a moment.  
  
"Okay; before we go take him on, I want all of you to know that...I'm glad we all met. I'm no speechwriter, but...I'm doing my best. I know it's been tough, and I know that, that said, we haven't seen anything yet. But, hey. All in all, I think we'll be okay, don't you?"  
  
And with these final words from their mutually agreed upon leader, sharing a smile, the group of brave adventurers charged forward to meet their destiny head-on.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Wow, what a battle!" Crono exclaimed on epic battle later, gazing at all the little pieces of Lavos lying about. "Truly one for the ages! I don't know how me made it through alive! Did anyone record it?"  
  
"Record it?!" Lucca echoed in disbelief. "We were all too busy fighting for our lives!"  
  
"But, Lucca, you were the one with the camera!" Crono reminded her reproachfully. "Why didn't you take any pictures?"  
  
"Because, Crono, I threw my camera at him for ten points of damage!"  
  
Crono nodded as the recollection floated through his mind, then sighed in defeat.  
  
He turned to Marle.  
  
"Well, how about you, Marle? You had that notepad. Did you take any notes?"  
  
"Um...what?" Marle chirped, blinking in confusion as she absently wound a strand of hair around her finger.  
  
"Did you take any notes of the battle?" Crono pressed.  
  
"We-ell, they're not really notes of the BATTLE, per se..." she admitted sheepishly.  
  
"Oh, boy," Crono sighed. "Let's see."  
  
Blushing, the princess handed him the little notebook. He flipped the front cover back, and his face fell as his gaze lit on a doodle of a little flower. Shaking his head, he turned the page...and then another...and then another...and then another, his expression registering a little more dismay with each successive scribble of a rainbow, or a cloud, or a bunny, or a roguishly winking kitty.  
  
"Er, Marle, are ANY of these..." Crono began, but trailed off as he flipped the page one last time, to reveal the words, written in fluffy-looking bubble letters, "Crono + Marle 4-Ever," surrounded liberally by little hearts. "Gee, that's...that's sweet, but Marle, you were supposed to be taking notes on the battle!"  
  
"Hey, I had to fight for my life too, buster!" she reminded him hotly.  
  
"But then...how did you find time to draw all that?" Lucca inquired, scratching her head. Or her helmet, anyway.  
  
"They were from before," Marle informed her with a chilling dignity.  
  
"Ah. Gotcha."  
  
"Well...how about you, then, Robo?" Crono pleaded, growing desperate. "Don't you have some super-robotic feature that we didn't know about that recorded the battle on video, or by sound, or something?"  
  
"Oh, of course," Robo huffed indignantly. "Robo is just a blemish on the party, until The Great Crono needs something. And then, naturally, everyone is only too glad to talk to me."  
  
"Okay, Robo, it was just a question," Crono assured him.  
  
"Well! If you're done with your 'questions,' I'd appreciate it if everyone would just go back to ignoring me, so I can continue wallowing in self- pity, my bitterness growing by the moment, and after a time consuming me."  
  
"Y'know," Lucca muttered aside to Magus, "Robo seems...different lately. I can't quite put my finger on how..."  
  
Magus simply rolled his eyes and turned to Crono.  
  
"Just accept it, boy. No one got records of the battle. It exists in our minds only, perhaps for the best."  
  
Crono pouted.  
  
"But how are we going to sell the movie rights if we can't prove that it happened?"  
  
The warlock frowned.  
  
"Er...what?"  
  
"Think about it, Magus! A battle like this? People would pay TONS to document it! But if we don't have any proof that it happened, or we can't tell it right, it'll never be immortalized in a movie, or a painting, or even, like, a video game!"  
  
"A...what," Marle and Lucca asked hesitantly.  
  
"Never mind," Crono sighed sadly. "Well, there's not really a lot more we can do here, so what do you all say we head home?"  
  
"Yaay!" everyone cheered, bouncing back to the Epoch as all characterization flew right out the window.  
  
  
  
  
  
Several hours later found the group of heroes having left the scene of Lavos' defeat, and having congregated in a little tavern, deeming it safer than the respective dwellings of any of the members of the group to celebrate in.  
  
Crono and Marle were alternately dancing and cuddling, completely oblivious of the indulgent smiles they were receiving, from friends and strangers alike.  
  
Frog was doing what Frog loved to do at times like this: pounding back mug after mug of ale, until Ayla, who was looking for a partner to aid her with her best loved activity, actually managed to get him onto the section of the tavern from which all the tables had been cleared to make room for the couples who felt their toes tapping in time to the rollicking fiddle and piano music that carried through the room.  
  
Robo was right in the thick of the celebrating, partying as heartily ever robot partied. He had completely abandoned his previously dreary and whiny approach to the world soon after Lucca had insisted upon examining him to see what on earth was causing this.  
  
The cause, it transpired, was a bug that he had acquired soon after the side quest...er, added mission involving the re-planting of Fiona's forest, leading to Lucca's successful try to save her mother from the wrath of a machine gone bad.  
  
This bug was called, quite simply, the Marvin, and was easily gotten rid of once spotted.  
  
Robo, back to his old self again, made Lucca swear that if he should ever, while around her, acquire an incurable version of the bug, she would do the right thing and send him promptly to the junk heap. There was, after all, no way he wanted to exist with that sort of attitude.  
  
With a laugh, Lucca offered her promise, and then, spotting a familiar shape, topped with familiar blue hair, she made her way over to the wall to lean against it next to him, mimicking his manner of crossing his arms.  
  
He peered down at her curiously.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Exactly what you're doing: avoiding the party."  
  
"I'm not avoiding it. I stayed for it, which was more than I was planning."  
  
She shrugged.  
  
"Hey, if you want to head back to our room now, I won't put up a fight...as long as you take me with you," she finished, grinning deviously at him.  
  
He chuckled slightly.  
  
"As tempting as that is, not yet. Now, go have fun."  
  
"I'm having fun here."  
  
"I'll just bet you are," a third voice proclaimed, laughing a laugh that was slightly louder than usual, with the help of everyone's favourite depressant, alcohol.  
  
Both whirled about to see Crono and Marle watching them with matching grins.  
  
"Eheh...don't take this to mean that we don't like you, but could you two bugger off?" Lucca requested.  
  
Crono merely laughed again.  
  
"That's our Lucca. Hey, Magus, you regretting that you asked her to come with you yet?"  
  
"Not at all," the older man returned, frowning amid the laughter that followed from the three teens.  
  
"Just wait until she's grinding your hand to powder while giving birth," Crono muttered conspiratorially.  
  
"Screaming that she hates all men," Marle added, her eyes twinkling despite her solemn tone.  
  
"Especially you," Lucca finished, returning Marle's wink.  
  
With a disgusted sigh, Magus turned to leave.  
  
"Hey, where are you going?" Crono called after him.  
  
"Just getting some air," came the reply.  
  
With a shrug, Crono turned to Marle.  
  
"Wanna go dance again?" he asked.  
  
"Actually, I'm a little tired," Marle replied. "I'm going to sit this one out."  
  
With a cute little wave to her friends, she turned and bounced away.  
  
"How about you, Lucca?" Crono asked hopefully.  
  
"I don't dance," she hurried to inform him. "At all."  
  
"It's easy to learn," the redhead assured her. "C'mon. I'll teach you."  
  
"Well, it's your funeral," she conceded, her tone laced with comically overly exaggerated foreboding as she firmly put her worries about Magus and the fact that he had left in a huff from her mind.  
  
Laughing easily, Crono led her to the dance floor.  
  
  
  
Fifteen minutes and a nearly squished foot later, Crono concluded that Lucca had been right: teaching her to dance was a completely hopeless cause.  
  
  
  
"Okay, Lucca, you win," Crono sighed, nursing his sore foot as his lifelong best friend returned with an icepack. "You can't dance at all."  
  
"Nope," she agreed cheerfully, carefully placing the ice, borrowed from the bar and wrapped in a towel, on the young man's foot. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to step outside and try in vain to get over the stinging humiliation of that knowledge."  
  
"You're weird, Lucca," Crono called after her as she started jauntily to the door of the tavern.  
  
"Thanks!" she called back with a laugh.  
  
  
  
Once outside, she took a deep breath. Sure, parties were great, but after a while in a crowded tavern, a person could forget what fresh air - minus the heavy scent of alcohol - smelled like. A short walk, and then she'd go back inside. Or maybe she should go look for Magus...  
  
Then, as she glanced over at the fence surrounding the small front yard of the establishment, this became a moot point.  
  
  
  
"I wondered where you'd run off to," she greeted reproachfully.  
  
"..." he commented articulately as she climbed up onto the top rail of the fence and sat beside him.  
  
"Would you rather be alone for a while? 'Cause I'll go inside, if you want..."  
  
He turned to her and studied her face for a long moment, then shook his head.  
  
"No, don't go inside. Stay here."  
  
She nodded, and both sat in silence for a time, staring up into the night sky, dotted with stars, relishing the peace of the calm, cool early autumn evening, its light breezes, ripe with the scent of the oncoming winter, brushing over their faces.  
  
"So, do you think you will?" she asked abruptly, turning to him and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.  
  
"Do I think I'll what?"  
  
"Regret it."  
  
Knowing instantly what she referred to, he pondered this in silence for so long that she was about to repeat the question, when...  
  
"Not at all. You might regret agreeing, though..."  
  
Quite on a whim, she grabbed his arm, scooted closer to him, and hugged him tightly.  
  
"Never!"  
  
  
  
And it is safe to say that, despite the frequent arguments that characterized a union between the two of them, which both indeed thrived on, their massively different spheres of influence, the decided tendencies of both to live as hermits, and all the many, many little things that inevitably got on each others nerves, neither of them did.  
  
  
  
  
  
End Notes: It's over! It's over! [Does happy celebratory dance, and offers up her prayers of thanksgiving to whatever deities might be listening]  
  
And I'm very sorry that it took so long, but I've had a few of these bits right from the beginning of the story, and connecting them turned out to be rather difficult. As such, I've a slight fear that this chapter was disjointed as well as unmercifully long. Still, it's entertaining. And I'm glad to say that the humour that started this off has returned in full force.  
  
However, it is indeed very, very expository. Aside from the make-out scene, everything was essentially a summary of real action. And it STILL ended up the longest chapter in this whole damned thing! But I just couldn't break it down and have two more. That would have brought me up to thirteen, and we all know about the significance of thirteen... [Cue a clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning cleaving the heavens in twain]  
  
On a side note, the little bit where Magus and Lucca are trying to train, but end up making out instead was meant as something of a tribute to a wonderful and absolutely hilarious tale of romance between these two. And everyone who reads this will know exactly which story I'm talking about, or I miss my guess. ^_^  
  
Oh, one final thing: I have discovered after playing Chrono Cross, that this story completely and utterly disregards it, standing completely alone as a 'strictly Chrono Trigger' story. Damn you, Chrono Cross... [Shakes fist angrily]  
  
Finally, I had an immense amount of fun writing this - truly, agonizing over characterization and plot pace and chapter length is truly a pure life moment - and I want to thank everyone who saw fit to read it. ^_^ 


End file.
